







?\3B' 













. 
















































THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES. 


GOING WEST; or, The Perils of a Poor Boy. 

OUT WEST; or, Roughing it on the Great Lakes. 

LAKE BREEZES; or, The Cruise of the Syl vania. 

GOING SOUTH; or, Yachting on the Atlantic 
Coast. 

DOWN SOUTH ; or, Yacht Adventures in Florida. 
UP THE RIVER; or, Yachting on the Mississippi. 


LEE AND SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston. 



































“.Leaping out of the open Window I came down fairly on 

his Back.” Page 266. 



I 


































































































fCK W-v /yz.2 -h f , 

The Great Western Series . 


LAKE BREEZES; 

OR, 

THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


BY 


OLIVER OPTIC, 

AUTHOR OF “ YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD,” “ THE ARMY AND NAVY SB^S." 
“ THB WOODVILLE STORIES,” “ THE STARRY FLAG SERIES," 

“THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES,” “THE LAKE SHORE 
SERIES,” “THE UPWARD AND ONWARD 
SERIES,” “ THE YACHT CLUB 
SERIES,” “ RIVERDALB 
STORIES,” ETC. 


WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS. 


BOSTON 

LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 

CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM NEW YORK 




Copyright, 1878, 

BY WILLIAM T. ADAMS. 





TO 


fHg gating JFrtentf, 

EDWARD J. ASTON, Jb^ 

OP ASHEVILLE, N.C., 

Eijis 28 ooft is affecttonatelg UBetucateti. 



P R E F A C E. 


“ Lake Breezes ” is the third volume of the “ Great 
Western Series.” The hero who has done duty for the 
two preceding stories again appears as the leading spirit 
of the present enterprise on the Great Lakes. But his 
narrative has no immediate connection with those previ- 
ously related ; and it begins and ends with only a sugges- 
tion of tne past and of the future, which the reader may 
follow out or not, as he pleases. Several of the characters 
before presented to our circle of friends take part in the 
incidents of the story. They are not “little boys,” of 
whom vigorous actions could hardly be expected, but 
of an age which justifies them in doing just what such 
young men have done in real life. 

The story is mostly a record of a yachting cruise on 
the Great Lakes; but simply sailing about, even upon a 
sheet of water so grand as Lake Superior, may become 
monotonous, at least in the recital; and in the present 
instance the young yachtmen had another motive than 
mere sport and diversion during most of their exciting 
voyage : it consisted largely in chasing another steam- 
yacht, which was the twin-sister of the one commanded 

vii 


viii 


PEEFACE. 


by “Captain Aliek,” and being chased by her when the 
“boot was on the other leg.” 

In his rambles in the “ Great West,” and in his cruis- 
ings on the Great Lakes, the writer obtained abundant 
material for his story, more than he has been able to use ; 
and in the vicinity of the locality of the present story he 
saw and admired a beautiful steam-yacht, which suggested 
some of the incidents of this volume. 

The moral of the story is not to be found in any set 
phrase, which may be conveniently skipped by the young 
reader, intent upon knowing what the hero does, and “ how 
he comes out,” but in the general good character of those 
who challenge his interest and admiration. He will not 
imitate the example of those whose evil deeds lead him 
to despise them; and he rejoices when they are justly 
punished at the end. This is old-fashioned, orthodox 
story-telling ; but, after all, it is the only safe method. 


Dorchester, Mass., Aug. 1, 1878. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER I. 

A Bitter Cold Night .... 



PAGB 

13 

CHAPTER II. 

Mischief done in the Night 

• • 

• 

23 

CHAPTER III. 

Hearing the Evidence . . . 

• • 

• 

33 

CHAPTER IY. 

The Doctor’s Dog 



43 

CHAPTER V. 

The Burning of the Sheds . . 

• • 

• 

53 

CHAPTER YI. 

A Severe Sentence .... 

• * 

• 

63 

CHAPTER YII. 

A Needy Professor .... 

• • 

• 

73 

CHAPTER YIII. 

An Honest Confession 

• • 

• 

83 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Trouble at the Bank . • 


t 

93 


lx 


X 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER X. 

The Hidden Treasure ...» 

. 

. 

. 

PAGE 

103 

CHAPTER XL 

Fitting for College .... 



• 

113 

CHAPTER XII. 

A Startling Discovery 

* 


• 

123 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Spots upon the Mate . 

% 

1 

• 

134 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Preparing for the Chase . 

• 

1 

• 

145 

CHAPTER XV. 

Beyond Point Huron .... 

• 

• 

• 

155 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Accident to the Wheel 

• 

• 

• 

164 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Sylvania in the Shade 

• 

t 

• 

176 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

A Race to the Southward . 

s 

• 

• 

186 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Coaling at Port Huron 

• 

• 

• 

196 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Boot on the Other Leg 

• 

• 

• 

207 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Mate on Watch .... 

• 

• 

• 

217 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Bound for Saginaw Bay . 

• 

• 

• 

227 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

A Night Trip to Montomercy . 

• 

PAGE 

. . 237 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

An Interview with the Enemy 

• 

. . 247 

CHAPTER XXY. 

A Close Shave 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

An Exciting Run to the Northward 

• 

. . 267 

CHAPTER XXYII. 

Lynch hears the Whole Story 

• 

. 277 

CHAPTER XXYIII. 

Into Lake Superior .... 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Around Lake Superior 

• 

. 297 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Bad Hews from Detroit • • • 

• 

. . 307 



► 



* 





* 


V. 









* 










LAKE BREEZES; 

OR, 

THE CRUISE OF THE SYLYANIA. 


CHAPTER I. 


A BITTER COLD NIGHT. 


“TTTAKE up, Alick!” 

* ’ It was Ellis Dykeman, my room-mate 
at Somerset College, who spoke ; and, as he did 
so, he shook me vigorously by the arm. 

“What’s the matter?” I demanded, waking out 
of the deep sleep into which I had fallen. 

“ You sleep sounder than a wet brickbat ! ” ex- 
claimed my bedfellow, as if disgusted with the 
task of rousing me. “Some one is knocking at 
the door. Can’t you hear it ? ” 

I did hear it now; but I could not very well 
have heard it when I was sleeping at the rate of 
twelve knots an hour, with my head buried under 

13 


14 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


two comforters and four blankets; for it was a 
bitter cold night. 

“Are you awake now? ” asked Ellie fretfully. 

“ Wide awake,” I replied. 

“Don’t you hear that knocking at the door?” 
he repeated. >> 

“I hear it; but, as you heard it before I did, 
why didn’t you get up and see what was wanted?” 
I inquired quietly, though I was a little vexed, 
for my room-mate had a habit of expecting and 
requiring me to do every thing that had to be done 
about the premises. “ This college don’t belong 
to me any more than it does to you.” 

“ It’s none of my affair,” he added rather test- 
%• 

“ Perhaps it is just as much your affair as mine,” 
I suggested. “At any rate, as you heard the 
knock first, you ought to have got up, and ascer- 
tained what was wanted.” 

Ellis Dykeman knew me very well ; and, without 
saying another word, he got out of bed, and went 
to the door. 

“ Here is a note for Captain Alick,” said Butts, 
the janitor and porter, who had to sit up all night, 
and look after the fires. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLYANIA. 


15 


“ I knew it wasn’t any thing to do with me,*’ 
growled Ellie, as he threw the note on the table, 
and leaped into bed again, shivering with cold. 

“ If I had heard the knock I should have got up 
without waking you ; and I think it is about time 
for you to learn to pull your own oar,” I replied, 
as I got out of bed, and lighted the lamp. 

Ellis Dykeman was the son of a very rich man ; 
and he had always had too many servants to wait 
upon him. 1 wished to make him do his share of 
the odd jobs about the room ; though I do not think 
I should have taken it upon myself to reform his 
ways, if his father had not requested me to do so 
when he sent his son to Somerset College. But 
I did not give the question of discipline much 
thought on the present occasion, for I was won- 
dering who could have sent a note to me at this 
unseasonable hour of the night. 

“ What’s the matter, Alick ? ” asked Ellie from 
beneath the lqad of bedclothes under which he 
had buried himself. 

“ Eva Brickland says her father is very sick, and 
wishes to see me at once,” I replied, as I proceeded 
to dress myself. 

“ Can I do any thing for you ? ” 


16 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


44 Nothing at all, Ellie. I think Mr. Brickland 
must have been taken very suddenly, for I have 
not heard that he was sick at all.” 

44 1 will get up and go with you,” added Ellie, 
suiting the action to the word. 

44 You needn’t do that, Ellie: you can’t help the 
matter by going with me, and you had better keep 
warm in bed,” I protested. 

I took my heavy overcoat from the closet, and 
put it on. Turning up the collar, I bound a large 
woollen muffler around it ; and then I felt as 
though I could stand a two-mile walk in zero 
weather. 

44 1 am sorry I didn’t get up when I heard the 
knock at the door,” said Ellie, when I was all 
ready to leave the room. 

I saw that he was touched by the circumstances 
under which I had been sent for ; and I was sorry 
I had said any thing. 

44 Never mind that now. It proves to be my 
affair, as you suggested,” I continued. 

44 But I have a mind to get up and go with you, 
to punish myself for being so surly.” 

44 A fellow don’t always know what to do when 
he is waked up out of a deep sleep on such a 
night as this. Stay in bed, Ellie.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


IT 


“ But, if I can do any thing for you, tell me ; 
won’t you, Alick? ” pleaded Ellie. 

“ I will ; and, if I am not back by the time the 
bell rings for prayers, I wish you would tell Dr. 
Rawley why I am absent.” 

44 1 will,” answered Ellie, as I left the room. 

I was very much concerned about Mr. Brick- 
land ; and I thought of nothing but the fact that 
he was sick, — very sick, the note informed me, and 
I feared that he might be in danger. Next to my 
father, I regarded him as the best friend I had on 
earth ; and certainly there was nothing I was not 
willing to do for him. tie had assisted me when I 
needed a friend ; and I could not forget the ser- 
vice he had rendered. He was an honest, true, 
and good man, and I liked him very much, inde- 
pendently of the kindness he had done me. 

When I was “going West,” accident had brought 
me to Montomercy, near Lake St. Clair, in Michi- 
gan : the town was on Glinten River, which flows 
into the lake about six miles distant. While liv- 
ing “out West,” I had found my father; or, rather, 
my father had found me, for he had been engaged 
in a diligent search for me. My earliest years 
were spent in the poorhouse ; and I had fled from 


18 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


the life of hardship and cruelty to which I had 
been subjected by the brutal man who had taken 
me from that institution to work for him. 

My father was a wealthy and titled Englishman ; 
and I visited his home in England with him. Be- 
fore we could return, my grandfather died, and 
my father became Sir Bent Garningham. He had 
been an officer of the army before this ; and, when 
we returned to America, he preferred to retain 
his military title, and he was known simply as 
Major Garningham. 

When he came to Montomercy, I was living 
with Mr. Brickland, whose ill health and misfor- 
tunes had reduced him to poverty and almost to 
want. I had been able to be of some service to 
him in the care of his farm ; indeed, I had picked 
up money enough by gardening and fishing in the 
upper lakes to save him from absolute financial 
ruin. When my father had established the fact of 
my relation to him, he was as grateful to Mr. 
Brickland as I had been. He had built him a fine 
house, and presented him a considerable sum of 
money, besides aiding him in other ways. 

When I was “going West,” I went part of the 
way in a sail-boat, with Ellie Dykeman, whose 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


19 


father had presented me the boat, now called 
the Lakebird, for the service I had rendered 
his son. I had taken the craft through the entire 
length of Lake Erie in a violent storm ; for I had 
been to sea, and was skilled in the management 
of a sail-boat. When the beautiful steam-yacht 
Sylvania, owned and used by a rich citizen of 
Detroit, went ashore in a severe hurricane, while 
the owner and his family were on board, I had 
gone off to her in the Lakebird, and saved all 
hands, for which the grateful millionnaire gave 
me a bill of sale of the steamer ; and she was now 
lying in Glinten River. 

During the summer after the return of my 
father and myself from England, we had made 
many excursions in this steam-yacht. But my 
father was anxious that I should pursue my 
studies ; and I had but little time to roam about 
the lakes, much as I enjoyed the sport. I took 
charge of the steamer myself, and for this reason 
I was generally called “ Captain Alick ; ” and X 
had become so accustomed to the title, that I did 
not mind it any more than if it had been my 
baptismal name. 

There was an academy, as it was called, in 


20 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


Montomercy; but it was hardly higher in grade 
than a common school in the large cities. I did 
not like to leave my home, for such it had be- 
come to me in the truest sense of the word ; and 
my father had contributed a considerable sum of 
money to the funds of the institution, — enough, 
in fact, to provide it with the best facilities for 
obtaining a finished education, as the people of 
the vicinity understood the matter, though all my 
father expected was that it would fit me for the 
university. Dr. Rawley, an eminent scholar and 
disciplinarian, had been engaged, with a corps of 
competent assistants. The buildings had been 
remodelled and refurnished; and the trustees 
wished to call it “ Garningham College.” My 
father was a modest man, and he positive^ re- 
fused to accept the complimentary use of his 
name ; and he suggested “ Somerset,” which was 
the name of my mother, instead ; and the sugges- 
tion was adopted. 

Though Mr. Brickland lived within two miles 
of the college, my father required that I should 
board at the institution ; for, as a military man, he 
insisted upon discipline. The college was free to 
all residents of the township of Montomercy, so 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 21 

far as tuition was concerned; but about sixty 
students, male and female, mostly from other 
places, lived in the u Commons,” as the great 
wooden boarding-house was called. 

It was now the month of February, and I had 
been at the college since the preceding October. 
In December my father went to England to 
attend to the business of his large estates. As I 
was doing very well with my studies, he was not 
willing to have me leave them, though he was 
sorry to part with me, even for a few months. 
Before he went, he had heard that a son of his 
younger brother intended to dispute the right of 
his newly-discovered son to the title and estates 
of the Garningham baronetcy. My grandfather 
had acknowledged me, and so had others inter- 
ested ; but the estates were worth a legal contest, 
in their opinion. 

My father had inherited his mother’s property ; 
and this he had turned into American stocks and 
bonds. Before he departed on his voyage across 
the ocean, mindful of the uncertainties of human 
life, he had made Mr. Brickland the trustee of 
these stocks and bonds, with directions to use the 
income of them for my support. I was told there 


22 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


was a hundred thousand dollars in bonds, besides 
the stocks ; and all these securities had been de- 
posited in the vault of the Montomercy Bank for 
safe -keeping. I had money enough, whatever 
happened to my father ; but I was not allowed to 
have much of it, for my father believed that 
“pocket-money” did boys more harm than any 
thing else. Still, I had all I needed. 

It was bitter cold as I walked along the bank 
of Glinten River towards the house of Mr. Brick- 
land. The next morning the thermometer was 
ten degrees below zero. With trembling anxiety, 
I turned into the grounds of the house. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


23 


CHAPTER II. 

MISCHIEF DONE IN THE NIGHT. 

T DREADED the duty before me, for I feared 
that I might find my good friend in the ago- 
nies of death. He had been an invalid for many 
years ; but his health appeared to have been fully 
restored from the time the sunlight of prosperity 
dawned upon him. It occurred to me that his old 
malady had attacked him again, and that he must 
be in a very bad way ; for Mrs. Brickland would 
not have sent for me on such a bitter cold night 
unless there had been some terrible emergency. 

But I was very much surprised to find that no 
light appeared at any window in the front of the 
house. Possibly the sufferer was in the agonies 
of some nervous disease, and the light could not 
be borne. I went to the rear ; for all the people 
in the house must be up, and there would be a 
light in the kitchen, at least. But it was as dark 
on that side of the house as on the front. I re- 


24 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


turned to the principal entrance, and rang the 
bell. No response came to the summons. I rang 
again and again. At last I saw a light in the 
room of Mr. Brickland ; and presently the window 
was opened. 

“ Who’s there?” called a voice, which I recog- 
nized as that of the invalid himself; and I con- 
cluded that he could not be very sick, as the letter 
stated, if he was able to come to the window on 
such a night. 

“ Alick,” I replied. 

“ Alick ! ” exclaimed the good man. “What in 
the world are you doing out there this cold 
night?” 

“ I thought you were sick,” I added, shivering 
with the cold, as I had before with apprehension. 

“Sick, are you? then you mustn’t stand out 
there any longer,” he added, mistaking what I 
said. 

The window was closed ; a moment later the 
front door was opened, and I went in. 

“ What appears to be the matter ? ” he asked, 
as he took my cold hand ; and his tones were full 
of sympathy and anxiety. 

“ Nothing is the matter with me,” I continued, 


THE CKUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


25 


as I followed him into the sitting-room, which felt 
as warm as an oven to me, coming in out of the 
cold atmosphere outside. 

“ I thought you said you were sick ; and I sup- 
posed you had come home to be attended to,” 
replied Mr. Brickland, in blank amazement. 

“No, sir: I came home because I thought you 
were sick.” 

“ I’m not sick : I was never better in my life.” 

“ Didn’t Mrs. Brickland send a note to me ? ” I 
asked, taking the billet from my pocket, where I 
had put it when I left the room at the Commons. 

“ Send a note to you ! I didn’t know that she 
did.” 

“ The note says you are very sick, and asks me 
to come home at once.” 

“ I’m sure I didn’t know I was very sick ; and 
I think there must be some mistake about it.” 

“ What under the sun is the matter ? ” de- 
manded Mrs. Brickland, entering the room, 
clothed in shawls and blankets. .“Is anybody 
dead?” 

“Not that I know of,” replied her husband. 
“ Did you send a note to Alick, saying I was sick, 
mother ? ” 


26 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ I’m sure I didn’t ! Why should I, when you 
are perfectly well ? ” 

I handed her the note. She put on her glasses, 
and examined it very carefully. 

“ Eva Brickland never wrote that note in this 
world ! ” exclaimed the good lady earnestly. “ It 
isn’t her writing any more than it is mine ; and, if 
she had sent you such a note as that, I should 
have known it.” 

“It is some trick of those boys in the college,” 
exclaimed Mr. Brickland ; “ and I should like to 
horsewhip the fellow that did it ! ” 

By this time I began to see that I was the vic- 
tim of a practical joke played off upon me by 
some of my fellow-students. I tried to think who 
it was ; but I could not satisfy myself in regard 
to the matter. I was about to start on my return 
to the college, when both Mr. and Mrs. Brickland 
interposed, and declared that I should not return 
that night. The good lady went off to make a 
fire in my room, while I toasted my feet at the 
stove. In half an hour I was abed and asleep in 
a much more comfortable room than I had in the 
Commons. 

I was not present at prayers at seven o’clock 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 


27 


the next morning; but I ate my breakfast at 
about this hour, and started for the village. On 
my arrival, I found the students at breakfast. 
Elbe Dykeman had answered for me when my 
name was called in the chapel ; and Dr. Rawley 
asked me how my guardian was, as soon as I 
showed myself. I replied that he was quite well 
now; and fortunately his attention was called 
away, so that he asked no more questions. 

When the students assembled in the school- 
room, I saw that something was the matter. Dr. 
Rawley looked very stern and troubled. He 
stood for a moment looking at the students before 
he said any thing. Then he intimated that every 
student knew what the first business of the morn- 
ing was to be. I was very sure I had no suspi- 
cion that it was to be any thing but Latin, which 
was due at the beginning of the session on that 
morning. 

“I have nothing to say about the absence of 
one - half of the Commons students from the 
chapel at prayers this morning,” he began ; “ for 
the customary signal for rising, and for attend- 
ance at prayers, was not given. But the young 
man or young men, as the case may be, who 


28 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


turned the bell in the cupola upside down, filled 
it with water, and permitted the same to freeze 
there, may now come forward.” 

No one accepted this invitation ; and most of 
the students looked around among their fellows 
for any indications of guilt or confession which 
might appear, but no one made any sign. The 
doctor had a theory of schoolboy honor which he 
had labored diligently to put into operation. He 
expected any one who had committed a fault to 
inform against himself ; which was certainly very 
pretty in theory, but did not work so well in 
practice. 

“ I hope the young man who did this piece of 
mischief will promptly acknowledge his guilt. It 
will be vastly better in the end for him to do so,” 
continued Dr. Rawley, after a considerable pause. 

But there was no word or sign on the part 
of any student. Each continued to look at the 
others as if to discover some sign of guilt. 

u I give the culprit, or culprits, five minutes 
more to consider the matter,” said the doctor, 
glancing at the clock, and then seating himself 
at his table. 

This time passed away in silence. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


29 


“ The five minutes have passed,” said the doc- 
tor, rising slowly from his chair. “ I regret to see 
that the perpetrator of this outrage does not in- 
tend to pursue a manly course. It would be bet- 
ter for him to acknowledge his fault; for I am 
happily furnished with the evidence of his guilt, 
and if he does not instantly rise, and expose him- 
self, I shall call his name.” 

A momentary silence followed this announce- 
ment; but no one availed himself of the instant 
of grace. The affair was becoming rather excit- 
ing, like the last chapter of a story, where the 
“ guilty one ” is exposed, and handed over to pun- 
ishment. I was wondering who he could be, and, 
like the others, was looking about to discover any 
pale face and quivering lips. In such a company 
of young men, there were a few rogues, of 
course ; and I had already made up my mind in 
regard to the possible conspirators against the 
well-being of Somerset College. But the doctor 
did not allow me much longer time to consider 
this question. 

“As the offender does not choose to acknowl- 
edge his guilt, I shall be under the painful neces- 
sity of calling him to the platform.” 


30 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


The good man paused again, as if he still de- 
sired to hold out the offer of mitigated punish- 
ment. But the guilty one did not show his hand. 

“Alexander Garningham,” said the doctor, after 
he had waited a moment, “you will come upon 
the platform.” 

I was utterly astounded at this call, for cer- 
tainly no one in the room knew less about the 
freezing-up of the bell than I did. Then it oc- 
curred to me, that I had seen two or three of my 
fellow-students looking at me several times while 
the question was pending. I could not see why I 
should be charged with the offence. I had not 
even been in the Commons when the outrage, as 
the doctor called it, was committed. 

But I was confident I should not be convicted 
of the offence, for the simple reason that T was 
not guilty ; and I knew that Dr. Rawley intended 
to be as fair and just as it was possible for a 
human being to be. I went upon the platform ; 
and I am sure I carried with me no hang-dog ex- 
pression. I held my head up ; and, avoiding any 
appearance of bravado, I tried to wear the smile 
delineated in my photograph. When I stood be- 
fore the doctor, I observed that his face was very 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


31 


pale, and that there was a tremor about his under 
lip. I realized that he was more troubled than I 
was ; and I really sympathized with him. He had 
always been rather reserved towards me, more so 
than to any other student, I thought ; but he was 
invariably kind and considerate to me. I knew 
there was no malice or ill-will in his heart toward 
any person, and certainly not toward me. He was 
simply doing his duty ; and I was confident he 
was honest and sincere in his belief that I was the 
transgressor in the present instance. 

“ Garningham, I am sorry that you did not re- 
port yourself when an opportunity was presented 
for you to do so,” said the doctor ; and his voice 
trembled with emotion as he spoke. “ Why didn’t 
you rise when I called for the offender ? ” 

“ Because I am not the offender, sir,” I replied ; 
and I took care that there should be no bravado 
or defiance in my tones. 

“ 1 regret that you are not yet willing to 
acknowledge your fault,” added the principal. “ I 
need not tell you that a falsehood is even more 
unmanly than the trespass of which you have 
been guilty.” 

My blood did begin to boil at this speech, anw 


32 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


I was tempted to utter a vigorous denial of both 
charges ; but I compressed my lips to keep the 
“ mad ” under, and determined not to speak ex- 
cept in answer to whatever questions might be 
put to me. I had fully expected that he would 
prove me guilty before he accused me of false- 
hood. Instead of speaking to me any further on 
the subject of the bell, he turned to the students, 

0 

and delivered quite a homily on the administra- 
tion of justice. It was to the effect that offenders, 
however high in social standing, however wealthy 
and influential, should be punished for their trans- 
gressions. He alluded to a notable instance, in a 
neighboring State, of a bank officer-who had plun- 
dered the institution of which he was the legal 
guardian, but had escaped the penalty of his crime 
through the influence of powerful friends. He 
insisted that even the sentiment of gratitude 
should not save the guilty. He gave a political 
illustration of his meaning, alluding to a governor 
of a distant State who had permitted a guilty offi- 
cial to go unpunished because the chief magistrate 
was largely indebted to the offender for the high 
position he held. I wondered what all this had to 
do with my case. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


33 


CHAPTER III. 


HEARING THE EVIDENCE. 


LEXANDER GARNINGHAM, you are the 



only son of the most munificent patron of 
Somerset College,” continued the doctor, turning 
to me after he had made a general application 
of the principle of his discourse ; and for the first 
time I realized that I was to be the subject of the 
special application. “You have been guilty of an 
outrage against good order and discipline in Som- 
erset College, an institution which bears the hon- 
ored name of your mother. I regret the circum- 
stance extremely; but justice must be adminis- 
tered without regard to gratitude, social rank and 
title, wealth, or influence. Have you any thing 
to say for yourself?” 

“ Nothing, except that I am not guilty,” I re- 
plied firmly but respectfully. 

“ I regret to hear you deny it again when the 
evidence is overwhelming. As I said before, your 


34 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


relation to the practical founder of this institu- 
tion, as it exists at the present time, must not 
shield you from just punishment,” added the 
doctor. 

It seemed to me just then that I was in a peciv 
liarly perilous position ; for the doctor was so fear- 
ful of being biased in my favor as “ the son of my 
father,” that he was inclined to judge me without 
trial. 

“ I expect to be punished if I disobey the rules 
and regulations of the college, just the same as 
any other student,” I ventured to add, in very 
respectful tones. 

“ I am glad to find that degree of submission to 
constituted authority, Garningham,” replied Dr. 
Rawle} r . “ You have been guilty of a gross breach 
of discipline, which doubtless you regarded as a 
good joke, but which, you will permit me to add, 
is a very old and a very stupid one.” 

“ I intend to submit, guilty or innocent ; but I 
did not even know that the bell of the college 
had been frozen up till I heard you say so after I 
came into this room,” I protested. 

“ Young man, do you wish to be formally con 
victed of this outrage?” demanded the principal 
sternly. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


35 


“ Yes, sir, if it is possible,” I replied without 
any hesitation. 

“Very well, Garningham: if you really believe 
you are not guilty, I think we shall be able to con- 
vince you, allowing that you are at all reasona- 
ble,” replied the doctor, chuckling at this mild 
joke. 

He opened his desk, and took therefrom a soiled 
handkerchief. It looked as though it had been 
wet since it came from the laundry. 

“Will you look at this handkerchief?” contin- 
ued the doctor, as he handed it to me, very much 
as though he considered the present proceedings 
a waste of time, and he was conducting them only 
to gratify an unreasonable whim of mine. 

I took the article, and examined it. 

“ Whose handkerchief is that ? ” asked the 
principal. 

“ It is mine, sir,” I replied promptly. 

“ Washburn, ask Mr. Butts to step into the 
schoolroom, and bring with him the bucket,” con- 
tinued Dr. Rawley. 

Butts presently appeared in obedience to the 
summons, carrying a bucket in his hand. The 
doctor took the handkerchief from my hand, and 
handed it to the porter. 


36 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ Look at it, Mr. Butts, and tell what you 
know about it,” continued the principal. 

“ It is the one I found in the belfry of the Com- 
mons this morning, when I went up to see why 
the bell wouldn’t ring as I pulled the rope,” 
answered the porter. “It had been wet, and 
was frozen when I found it.” 

“ Are you sure this is the one ? ” 

“ The handkerchief I found was marked ‘ A. 
G.’ ” 

“ Well, what else did you find there?” inquired 
the doctor, with a yawn, as though the trial was 
very tedious and a mere formality. 

“ I found this bucket in the belfry,” replied 
Butts, holding up the implement. 

“ What is the number on it ? ” 

“ Forty-two, sir.” 

“ What is the number of your room, Garning- 
ham?” . 

“ Forty-two, sir,” I answered, confounded by 
this array of evidence. 

“ Is that the bucket from your chamber ? ” 

“ I have no doubt of it, sir,” I replied ; and I 
was so familiar with the awkward figures of the 
number on my slop-bucket, that I could not mis- 
take the article. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


37 


“Very well, so far. Do you wish to ask the 
witness any questions, Garningham ? ” said Dr. 
Rawley, turning to me. 

“ I should, sir,” I replied ; for I was beginning 
to be very much mystified by the situation. 

“ You have permission to do so.” 

“Did you bring me a note in the night?” I 
asked the porter. 

I happened to glance at the principal as I 
spoke ; and I saw that there was a smile on his 
face, as though he was fully aware what my line 
of defence would be. I was rather disheartened 
at this circumstance ; for I had calculated from 
the beginning that my absence from the Commons 
since midnight would relieve me of all suspicion. 

“I did bring a note to your room,” answered 
Butts ; but he was a prudent witness, and he said 
nothing more. 

“ What time was it ? ” I proceeded. 

“ Half-past twelve, by the hall clock.” 

“Did you see me leave the Commons after 
that?” 

“ I did : you went out at the side door shortly 
after I carried up the note,” replied Butts. 

“I will save you the time and the trouble of 


38 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


putting any more questions in that direction,” 
interposed the doctor, “by admitting that you 
left the Commons in the middle of the night, that 
you staid at Mr. Brickland’s house till morning, 
and did not return till breakfast was on the 
table.” 

I was “ taken all aback,” as we used to say at 
sea, by this admission ; for I relied upon the fact 
of my absence from the Commons to convince the 
principal that I had not frozen up the bell. 

“ Have you any more questions to put to the 
janitor ? ” asked Dr. Rawley triumphantly ; though 
it was the triumph of the logician, rather than 
of the malicious schoolmaster who takes pleasure 
in convicting delinquents. 

“ One more question, if you please,” I replied. 

“Proceed,” added the doctor, nodding at me, 
and apparently satisfied that he was giving me 
every possible chance to resist his reasonable con- 
clusion that I was guilty of the outrage. 

“ Where did you get the note you carried to 
my room, Mr. Butts?” I asked; and I was 
assured that this question would lead to a vital 
point in the argument. 

“ Found it on the table in the lower hall, where 
I had put my lantern,” answered the janitor. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


39 


“ How came it on the table ? ” I asked with 
considerable energy. 

“That’s more than I can tell,” said Butts, 
shaking his head, while a sort of a non-committal 
smile played on his lips. 

“ I suppose I shall have to answer that question 
for him, since he appears to be unable to do so 
himself,” added the doctor. “ You put the note 
on the table yourself, Garningham.” 

“ I should like to hear the evidence on that 
point, sir,” I replied. 

“ Unfortunately, so far as your personal gratifi- 
cation is concerned, there is no evidence on this 
point. The handkerchief and the bucket, and the 
fact of your absence from the Commons, are 
enough to convict you, without proving that you 
left the note on the janitor’s table. Of course 
the note was a forgery.” 

“ It was, sir ; but I have no idea who wrote it.” 

“ I hope you are keeping account of all the 
falsehoods you are telling in this connection, Gar- 
ningham,” said the doctor sternly. 

“ I have not told a falsehood since I came into 
this room,” I protested earnestly. 

“It is plain to me,” continued the principal, 


40 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


taking no notice of the warmth of my expression, 
“ that the bell was turned, and filled with water, 
at some time between nine and half-past twelve 
o’clock. The articles found in the belfry prove 
that it was done by Garningham. The note was 
simply a trick to cover up his tracks.” 

“ It was a very stupid trick,” I added. 

“ So it was ! ” exclaimed the doctor. 

“I would rather be convicted of freezing up 
the bell than of being a liar and a fool,” I added. 
“ Of course it would be shown the next day that 
Mr. Brickland was not sick, and that no note had 
been sent to me ; and I don’t like to be thought 
so stupid as to resort to such a silly trick. If the 
handkerchief and bucket had been carried to the 
belfry by me, I should certainly have taken them 
away with me. I am not an idiot:” 

I was quite disgusted with the situation ; but I 
had made up my mind to take the penalty, what- 
ever it might be, and I decided to say no more. 

“ Murder will out,” said Dr. Hawley. “ I find 
that people who are very sensible under ordinary 
circumstances will be very senseless while engaged 
in doing wrong. Evil-doing seems to impair the 
judgment. Do you wish to examine any more wit- 
nesses, Garningham?” 



Hearing the Evidence. Fage 34 






















































































\ 
















■* 




f 



y 


























■ - m 
































THE CRTJISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


41 


“No, sir.” 

“ But I should like to be examined,” interposed 
Ellie Dykeman. 

“Do you know any thing about this business, 
Dykeman ? ” asked the doctor. 

“ I think I do, sir,” replied my room-mate, ad- 
vancing to the platform. 

“ W ell, what do you know about the matter ? 
You room with Garningham ; and, if anybody 
knows any thing about it, you are the one.” 

“ May I ask a question ? ” said Ellie. 

“ Proceed.” 

“ Did I understand you to say that the bell was 
frozen up between nine and half-past twelve ? ” 

“ Such is my conclusion, Dykeman.” 

“ Then I wish to say that Garningham was with 
me all the time between the hours you name, sir.” 

“ Were you in the belfry with him ? ” 

“ No, sir ; neither of us was in the belfry ; ” and 
Ellie proceeded to testify, in his earnest manner, 
that we had both been in our room from the time 
the bell rang to retire at nine in the evening, till 
the note was brought to the door. 

He had missed the bucket when he washed his 
hands in the evening. The doctor appeared to be 


42 


LAKE BREEZES; OR. 


somewhat staggered by the evidence of Ellie, and 
apparently much more by his earnest manner and 
air of truthfulness. He questioned him for some 
time. Other students were examined, but no more 
evidence could be obtained. 

“Do you say, Garningham, that you did not 
write the note?” said he, turning to me. 

“ I did not write it,” I replied, taking the note 
from my pocket. 

“ Is that the note ? ” 

“ It is ; ” and I gave it to him. 

He spent some more time in comparing it, with 
the aid of his assistants, with my writing, as seen 
in my exercises. It was not mine. The case was 
postponed. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


43 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE DOCTOR’S DOG. 

T THINK the argument that had the most weight 
with Dr. Rawley in the end was the one which 
had done most to convince him in the beginning 
of my guilt, — the leaving of the handkerchief and 
the bucket in the belfry. It looked as though 
these articles had been purposely left there. Af- 
ter the morning session of the school, the doctor 
called me into his private office, and had a long 
talk with me. I told him the truth, as I had be- 
fore ; but I saw that he was still in doubt. I had 
no means of removing these doubts when we 
parted : the evidence was not sufficient to acquit 
or convict me. 

I Was not well pleased to have even a suspicion 
hanging over me ; but there was no clew by which 
the guilty one could be approached. I could only 
hope that the truth would come out after a while ; 
but I could do nothing to bring it out. I concluded 


44 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


that the whole affair was a practical joke, including 
the attempt to cast the guilt upon me ; and I was 
willing to believe that it had proved to be a more 
serious matter than the perpetrator of the joke 
intended. I was not aware that I had an enemy 
among the students, and I did not like to think 
that any one had really meant to get me into 
trouble. 

“ Well, I suppose the doctor is satisfied that you 
didn’t freeze up the bell, Captain Alick,” said 
Lynch Braceback, after I came out of the private 
office. 

“ I don’t think he is satisfied that I did, or did 
not, do it,” I replied. 

“ I don’t believe a fellow in the college thinks 
you did it, Alick,” added Lynch warmly. 

“ Does a fellow think any one did it? ” I asked, 
laughing. 

“ Of course some one did it.” 

“ Who was it? ” 

“ How should I know ? But I think it was mean 
to set a trap for you, as the fellow did. Freezing 
up the bell was a good joke, but the rest of it was 
rascally.” 

“ I don’t see any fun in freezing up the bell,” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


45 


added Bob Washburn. “It only gave Butts the 
trouble of going to all the rooms to call the stu- 
dents.” 

“I should like to know who set the trap for 
Captain Alick,” said Ellie Dykeman. 

“ So should I,” added Lynch Braceback ; “ and 
I will be one to help thrash him within an inch of 
his life. No meaner thing was ever done.” 

“Then I think we had better find out,” con- 
tinued Ellie. “ Here are four of us ; and I move 
that we form an association of detectives to spot 
the fellow.” 

“ Good ! I am one of the number,” exclaimed 
Lynch. 

“And I am another,” added Bob Washburn. 

“ I don’t object ; but I don’t see what we can 
do about it,” I suggested. 

“ We will meet and talk over the matter,” re- 
plied Ellie. “ Each fellow can keep his eyes and 
ears open; and, when we get together, we will 
compare notes.” 

We met in our room that evening. We had 
all listened to what had been said by the students, 
and we put all that we heard together ; but when 
we separated, as the nine-o’clock bell rang, we 


46 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


were no wiser than before. Lynch Braceback was 
the most forward in his suggestions ; and, without 
giving any good reason for it, he declared his be- 
lief that a student by the name of Monk was the 
author of the mischief. He was a wild, harum- 
scarum fellow, full of fun and mischief ; but I had 
never regarded him as a designing knave. I could 
easily have believed that he froze up the bell, but 
not that he charged his own offence upon me, for 
he was a good-hearted and honorable fellow. 

We watched Monk during the remainder of the 
week, but we found nothing to connect him with 
the affair. Ellie talked with him about it. He did 
not think it was half so wicked to freeze up the 
bell as it was to “ lay it to another fellow.” If he 
had done it, he would have owned up when it was 
charged to an innocent person. Our detective 
association did not amount to any thing; and 
after a week we discontinued our meetings, for 
we accomplished nothing to encourage us. We 
were told that the instructors were comparing the 
handwriting of the note with that of each of the 
students ; but, if they ever came to any conclusion, 
we were not informed of it. 

About a fortnight after the mischief was done, 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


47 


it was whispered about that the assistants found 
a strong resemblance between the capitals in the 
note and those in the composition of one of the 
students; but the doctor could not see that the 
letters were much different from those made by 
the majority of the class, and would not even let 
the name of the student be mentioned. 

“We are all instructed by the same writing- 
master, and of course there would be a strong re- 
semblance,” said Lynch Braceback, when we were 
talking over the rumor. 

“ Whoever he is, the fellow is shrewd, and man- 
ages his case extremely well,” added Bob Wash- 
burn. “I don’t believe that cat will ever come 
out of the bag.” 

That was just my view of the matter. If there 
was a student among us who was cunning and 
artful enough to remain unmoved after all that 
had been said and done about the bell, I did not 
care to know him. His very art would lead him 
to be a thief and a swindler, to say nothing of the 
meanness of his disposition. This was my thought 
as I walked home from the college Saturday morn- 
ing after breakfast ; for it was a holiday, when I 
usually went over to see the Bricklands. As I 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


48 

jumped over the fence to cross the lot to the road, 
I saw some one dodge around a corner of one of 
the out-buildings of the college. I could not 
make him out, but I judged that he was one of 
the students from his size and his dress. 

My path lay through a little grove of pines. I 
had hardly got over the fence before I heard a 
choking sound which startled me. It was attended 
by the faint sounds of a struggle. I was afraid 
it might be a human being in distress, and I quick- 
ened my pace. A few steps more brought me to 
a point from which I discovered the origin of the 
sounds. 

Hanging by the neck, suspended to a pine with 
a piece of bedcord, was Dr. Rawley’s dog “ Conny,” 
struggling and choking in the agonies of death. I 
rushed forward, and, taking my knife from my 
pocket, I cut the rope, holding the animal with 
my left arm as I did so. I laid the dog on the 
ground, and he was soon able to recover his breath. 

I had hardly accomplished this act of humanity 
before I heard footsteps near me. At this mo- 
ment the clock on one of the village churches 
struck nine. The person approaching was coming 
through the pines at a hasty pace ; but I could 
not yet see who it was. 



•‘What akk you doing with my Dog, you Villain?” Page 47. 





THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 49 

Wliat are you doing with my dog, you vil- 
lain ? ” demanded the new - comer, in wrathful 
tones ; and I at once recognized the tones of the 
principal of the college. 

“ I have been trying to save his life,” I replied, 
not heeding the pet name the good man had ap- 
plied to me. 

“ You are trying to kill him ! ” cried the doctor, 
coming up to the spot, out of breath with his 
exertions. 

“If that had been my intention, I should not 
have cut him down,” I added gently. 

He looked at the knife still in my hand, and 
then at the dog, whose spasmodic breathing, and 
the cord around his neck, assured him that I had 
not done an unfriendly act to the dog. 

“ 1 am glad I cut him down, in spite of the hard 
charge you make against me,” I added, as I 
pointed to the rope in the tree by which the poor 
beast had been suspended. It had been passed 
over a branch of the tree, the animal swung up, 
and the end made fast to a bush. 

“ Then it was not you that hung him, Garning- 
ham ? ” said the doctor. 

“If it had been, I shouldn’t have cut him 


down.” 


50 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ Who did it?” 

“I don’t know, sir. As I jumped over tho 
fence to go home, I saw some one dodge behind 
the out-building, but I could not tell who it was.” 

“ Poor Conny ! ” said Dr. Rawley, stooping 
down, and patting the dog on the head. 44 Did 
they try to kill you?” Conny wagged his tail; 
but he was not in condition to be very demon- 
strative. 

44 Shall I carry him to the house, sir ? ” I in- 
quired. 

44 If you will, it will oblige me very much.” 

I took the dog in my arms as tenderly as 
though he had been a baby, and bore him into the 
library, which was the principal’s sanctum, where 
the dog spent most of his time, for he was not a 
favorite with the students. No amount of coax- 
ing could make him take the least notice of them, 
though he was very affectionate to his master. 

Dr. Rawley had brought this dog all the way 
from Constantinople. He was nothing but a cur, 
and as useless as the majority of dogs; and we 
all thought it very strange that a learned man 
like the principal should bestow his affections upon 
such an ill-favored puppy. I laid the dog on a 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


51 


sofa, as his master indicated ; but by this time he 
had nearly recovered from the effects of his harsh 
treatment. 

“ It is more blessed to give than to receive ; 
and we love those most whom we have served 
best,” said Dr. Rawley, after he had assured himself 
that the pup was in no danger. “ Five years ago 
I was a missionary in Turkey. On my way home, 
I stopped in Constantinople several days to wait 
for the French steamer for Marseilles. One morn- 
ing, as I stood at the door of the hotel, I saw 
a little puppy chased by a herd of larger dogs. 
I suppose the little fellow had intruded upon their 
territory, and they were chasing him off. I 
thought he had been punished enough for his 
temerity, and I interfered to save him from the 
rage of his tormentors. The dogs turned upon 
me, and I was severely bitten for my pains. I 
should have fared worse if some Turks had not 
come to my assistance. 

“The next morning I found this dog at the 
door of the hotel. He was lank and hungry ; and 
I went to the bake-shop opposite, and obtained a 
roll for him. Every morning for a week he came to 
me for his breakfast', and I fed him. Then I took 


52 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


him to my room ; and, when I sailed from Constan- 
tinople, I brought the dog with me ; and he has 
been one of my best friends ever since. This is 
the very dog,” he added, pointing to the cur on 
the sofa. “ His name is Constantinople ; but I 
call him Conny for an abbreviation.” 

“ Then I am very glad I saved him. He would 
have been dead in a minute or two more, sir.” 

“You will excuse the hasty words I used, Gar- 
ningham,” continued the • doctor, taking a note 
from his pocket. “ I was excited ; and I think I 
had reason to believe that you intended to hang 
my dog.” 

He handed me the note he had taken from his 
pocket. It had come by the morning mail, which 
Butts always carried to the doctor at half-past 
eight. I read it : “I have just found out that 
your dog will be hung by a student precisely at 
nine o’clock on Saturday morning, in the pasture, 
near the woodsheds. Save him if you can.” 

This note was evidently written by the same 
person as that I had received at midnight a fort- 
night before. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


58 


CHAPTER V. 

THE BURNING OF THE SHEDS. 

“TT does not appear that the writer of this note 
desired to have my dog destroyed,” said Dr. 
Rawley, after a few moments of consideration. 
“ If he had, he would not have written this note 
to me.” 

“ What did he desire ? ” I asked. 

“ It appears to have been a friendly act on his 
part ; else, why should he have taken the trouble 
to give me this information ? ” 

“ The note is in the same hand as that which 
was sent to my room at midnight,” I added, glan- 
cing at the writing again. 

“ I see that it is, or, at least, that it appears to 
be. But that is not very strange, since all the 
students write very nearly the same hand.” 

By this time Conny had entirely recovered 
from his choking, and his master affectionately ca- 
ressed him. I attempted to pat him on the head ; 


54 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


but the brute growled at me, and seemed to be 
utterly insensible to the feeling of gratitude for 
the service I had rendered him. I was willing to 
believe, however, that he was not conscious of the 
fact that I had saved his life. 

I left the doctor’s office, and started again to 
go home. I could not help thinking of the event 
which had just transpired. It looked to me just 
as though the author of the note had intended to 
have the doctor discover me on the spot where 
Conny was expiating the penalty of his surliness. 
Every Saturday morning I was in the habit of 
going home by this path through the pasture. 
The person who had dodged around the corner, 
as I jumped over the fence, was undoubtedly the 
intended executioner of the cur. He had evi- 
dently waited, with the rope around the animal’s 
neck, ready to swing him up, till he heard me 
coming. When he saw or heard me, he had done 
the deed, and made his escape under cover of the 
pines, which effectually concealed him till he 
reached the shelter of the sheds. 

I made up my mind, and it seems to me I did 
not force the conclusion, that I was to be caught 
on the spot where the dog was hung. I was will- 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


55 


ing to believe that the plan had not worked in 
every respect as the conspirator intended ; for he 
could not have meant to give me time enough 
to cut the dog down before his master appeared. 
Who was this person that was laboring so dili- 
gently to get me into trouble ? 

When I reached the pasture where the tragedy 
was acted, I looked about for any thing that 
would indicate the individual who was plotting 
against me. I examined the ground for an}^ 
tracks of the conspirator. But the soil was 
frozen, though it thawed during the day, and 
there was no mark on the ground of his foot- 
steps. I followed the path he had taken into the 
sheds ; but they contained no human being. 

Dr. Hawley said nothing about this affair in 
the schoolroom ; for, after consultation with the 
assistants, he decided not to do any thing till he 
had some evidence to implicate the guilty one. 
It was plain enough to me that the conspirator 
had nothing against the dog: the p)lot was in- 
tended to injure me, and not the cur. 

I spent my Saturday at home, and returned to 
the college in the evening. I had a long talk 
with Mr. Brickland in regard to the matter ; and 


56 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


he advised me to say nothing about it, but to be 
on the watch all the time. The conspirator had 
accomplished nothing so far, and it was not likely 
that he would be satisfied to let me alone for any 
great length of time. I was content to act on 
this advice ; and for the next two weeks I kept 
my eyes and ears open. If any unusual event 
occurred, I began to look for a catastrophe of 
some sort. 

The winter passed away, and the spring came 
on. I was not involved in $ny more difficulties ; 
and I hoped my enemy, whoever he was, had 
concluded to let me alone. But I was mistaken. 
One evening Lynch Braceback and Bob Wash- 
burn were in our room, with Ellie and myself. 
We had studied the lessons for the next day till 
eight o’clock, when the wind suddenly breezed up 
sharp and cold from the north-west. It had been 
so warm for three days that we needed no fire ; 
but in a short time after the freezing wind began 
to rattle the windows, we were all very cold ; 
and I did not like to go to bed with my feet like 
ice. There was no wood in the room ; and we 
began to consider the question as to who should 
go out to the sheds, and get some. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


57 


“Draw lots to see who shall go,” suggested 
Lynch. 

“ It is either Ellie or I,” I added. “ This is our 
room ; and we don’t expect any outsider to bring 
wood for us.” 

“ I have no fire in my room, and I should like 
to get warm before the nine-o’clock bell rings,” 
said Bob ; “ and I am willing to take my share in 
the lot.” 

By this time Lynch had cut three slips of paper 
of unequal length, for he did not intend to in- 
clude himself in the lot. He placed them in a 
book so that the ends looked all alike. 

“ Here, Captain Alick, you are the skipper, 
and you shall draw first,” said he, as he held the 
book out. “ It is time for me to go home, and I 
have only a minute to see fair play among you 
before I go.” 

I drew out one of the papers. 

“ That’s the longest one ! ” exclaimed Lynch. 
“ You must get the wood, Captain Alick.” 

“ All right : I am willing to abide by the lot,” 
I replied, taking out my boots from the closet, 
for I wore thin slippers in the house. 

“ Good-night, fellows. I must run home as 


58 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


fast as I can, or my father will give me fits for 
being out after eight o’clock,” added Lynch, rush- 
ing out of the room ; and we heard his rapid foot- 
steps as he descended the stairs. 

“ I will get the wood if you don’t want to go 
out,” said Ellie. “ My slippers are thick enough.” 

“ The lot has fallen on me, and I will get the 
wood,” I replied, as I drew on my boots. 

Lynch Braceback was not much of a scholar, 
und he had come to our room to obtain some 
assistance in working out a problem in geometry. 
Ellie had explained the problem to him ; but he 
was so listless and inattentive, that we were both 
in doubt whether he knew any thing about it in 
the end. 

I went down stairs. In the lower hall I saw 
the janitor kindling a fire in the stove ; for the 
schoolrooms and halls were kept warm night and 
day to prevent the ink and the water from 
freezing. 

“ Have you any matches, Mr. Butts ? ” I asked, 
remembering that my stock in the chamber w^s 
exhausted. 

“ Plenty of them, Captain Alick ; ” and he gave 
•me a supply. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVAHIA. 


59 


“It has come up very cold all of a sudden,” 
said he, as I passed on towards the back door. 

“ I want to make a little fire, and warm my feet 
before I get into bed.” 

“It isn’t a good plan to go to bed with cold 
feet,” he added. 

I went out to the woodsheds in the dark ; but 
I knew just where to find the shavings, the kin- 
dlings, and the hard wood. I took a large armful, 
and a handful of shavings. On my way back, I 
saw Butts still engaged in his task. He had 
lighted the fire, and was waiting to see it burn. 

“ You have company in your room this evening, 
Captain Alick,” said he. 

“Only Washburn: Braceback was there, but 
he went home before I came down,” I replied. 

“I don’t think you have heard of the new 
rule,” said he with a smile. 

“What’s that?” 

“ Day-scholars are not allowed in the rooms of 
the resident students after dark.” 

“ I am sure I never heard of the rule before.” 

“ See here,” continued Butts, taking his lantern, 
and conducting me to a notice posted on the wall 
near the schoolroom door. 


60 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ I never saw it before. How long has it been 
there ? ” I asked, after I had read it. 

“ Nearly a week, I should say.” 

“ Of course Braceback didn’t know of the rule, 
or he would not have come over,” I added, as I 
went up the stairs. 

Ellie made a fire in the little stove while I 
pulled off my boots; and in a few minutes we 
were toasting our feet in readiness to go to bed 
when the bell rang ; for at quarter past nine every 
light in the building must be extinguished, except 
that in the janitor’s lantern. 

“This is tremendous cold weather for the 
month of March,” said Bob Washburn, as he 
hitched up closer to the stove. “I believe it is 
colder here than in the State of Maine, where 1 
come from.” 

The words were no more than out of his mouth 
when a bright light flashed in at the windows, 
and glared upon us as though the house were on 
fire. My chamber was on the corner at the north 
end of the Commons. It had two windows, one 
looking out over the pasture and the pines where 
poor Conny had almost come to his end, and the 
other a cross street on which the woodsheds 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


61 


cornered. The light came in at the latter. We 
all leaped to our feet the instant the red glare 
lighted up the room. 

“ Fire ! ” exclaimed Bob Washburn. 

“ Fire ! ” repeated Ellie, rushing to the window. 
“ Where is it?” 

“ It is close by us, at any rate,” I added, follow- 
ing him. 

“ It is the woodsheds ! ” continued Ellie. “ And 
they are all in a light blaze ! ” 

I put on my boots again quicker than I had 
ever performed the operation before in my life. I 
rushed down stairs, followed by my companions. 
By this time not only the Commons, but the whole 
village, was in commotion. I had been brought up 
to do my own thinking, and trained to action in 
emergencies. The sheds — and there was a string 
of them seventy feet in length — were in a bright 
blaze, and it was useless to think of putting the 
fire out. The strong north-west wind drove the 
flames directly towards the corner of the Commons 
in which my room was located. The business of 
the moment was to save the larger and more val- 
uable building. 

I saw the burning brands rising from the sheds, 


62 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


the wind carrying them over the corner of the 
roof of the Commons. I called to Ellie and Wash- 
burn, and they followed me up to the belfry. It 
was a shingle roof, and not very steep. I walked 
out on the ridge-pole, and then down to the eaves 
of the structure, kicking off the brands that were 
falling at my feet. 

Bob followed me out on the ridge-pole : he did 
not care to trust himself to the sloping sides ; but 
the fire came within his reach, and he rendered 
good service. I was a sailor: I had been com- 
pelled to go aloft on the schooner in which I sailed 
in the night and the storm ; and it was an easy 
thing for me to handle myself at that height. I 
saw that Ellie was afraid to trust himself even on 
the ridge-pole '; and I told him to ring the bell as 
hard as he could, in order to let him feel that he 
was doing something. 

In less than fifteen minutes the sheds were en- 
tirely consumed ; and, as there was nothing more 
to burn, the fire went out. Our party staid on the 
roof till there was no further danger, and then 
went down into the yard. 


THE CBUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


63 


CHAPTER VI. 

A SEVEKE SENTENCE. 

Y this time the excitement in the yard had 



subsided. An engine was playing upon the 
smouldering remains of the shed, but the building 
had been entirely destroyed before a machine was 
ready to work. In half an hour more the crowd, 
who did not like the feeling of the cold north wind, 
had left the spot, and most of the students had 
retired. Ellie and I went to our room. The nine- 
o’clock bell had not rung, but we went to bed with- 
out its assistance. 

“Did you hear how the sheds caught fire?” 
asked my room-mate, after we had turned in. 

“I did not,” I replied with a gape, for I was 
beginning to be very sleepy. 

No more was said, and I went to sleep. The 
next morning all the students were talking about 
the fire, and wondering how it caught. No one 
seemed to be able to throw any light on the sul> 


64 


LAKE BREEZES; OR. 


ject. Several of us asked Butts if he knew any 
thing about it, but the janitor seemed to avoid any 
conversation on the subject. He looked very wise, 
but said nothing. As soon as breakfast was over, 
the four students who had been in our room to- 
gether the evening before were summoned to the 
office of Dr. Rawley. I had no doubt the business 
of the occasion was in relation to the fire. It was 
to be a sort of inquest into the cause of the con- 
flagration. 

When we reached the office we found the assist- 
tants and Butts there. For my own part, I had 
hardly thought of the matter. The sheds were 
never locked, and all the servants from the kitchen 
went for wood when they wanted it. One of them 
had probably set a lamp too near the shavings, or 
Butts had dropped his lantern among them. I 
was a little perplexed when I saw that only the 
students who had assembled' in No. 42 were sum- 
moned to attend the inquest ; but I was willing to 
believe that it was because that room was on the 
corner nearest to the sheds, and we might be sup- 
posed to know more about the fire than any others.* 

Dr. Rawley looked very stern ; but I saw that he 
Was very much troubled, as though the question 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 


65 


before him was a very difficult one to settle. I 
concluded that he and his assistants had already 
done something towards working up the case. It 
was not improbable that they had come to a con- 
clusion, and I thought the doctor was wise in not 
bringing the matter up before the school. 

“Mr. Butts, we are ready to hear what you 
know about the fire, ” said the doctor. 

“ I was making a fire in the lower hall when I 
saw a strong light at the end window. I went 
out, and found the sheds were on fire. I threw a 
bucket of water on the pile of shavings inside, 
where the fire was breaking out through the side 
of the building ; but it did no good,” replied the 
janitor. “ I did all I could in two minutes ; and 
by that time the fire was beyond my control, and 
was blazing up through the roof. Then I shouted 
for help. By this time the students from No. 42 
came down ” — 

“Four of them?” asked Mr. Lawrence, the 
first assistant. 

“No, sir; only three of them. Braceback had 
gone home a little while before the fire broke 
out,” answered Butts. “ It was no use to try to 
put the fire out, for all the engines in town could 


66 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


not have done it if they had been on the ground 
in the first of it.” 

“Never mind the putting-out of the fire,” in- 
terposed Dr. Rawley. “We know all about that.” 

“ I was only going to say that Garningham and 
the other two with him rushed up to the roof of 
the Commons, and did all they could to keep the 
building from taking fire. I saw Captain Alick 
kicking the firebrands off the shingles; and I 
think the Commons would have been on fire in a 
few minutes if it hadn’t been for him.” 

“No doubt he did good service; but Garning- 
ham seems to appear before us in a double 
phase,” added the doctor. 

I wondered what he meant by that. 

“ Who was the last person that went into the 
sheds before the fire broke out?” asked the 
doctor. 

“ Garningham, sir.” 

That was what he meant ! I was to be charged 
with setting fire to the building. 

“State the facts, if you please, Mr. Butts,” 
continued the doctor. 

“ Garningham came down, and asked me if I 
had any matches. I gave him a dozen or so, and 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


67 


he went out to the sheds for some wood to make 
his fire. When he came in, I told him about the 
new rule, and found that he had not noticed the 
paper posted in the hall. He went up stairs ; and 
in less than five minutes I saw the light of the 
fire as it broke through the side of the sheds.” 

“ Did any one else go into the sheds about this 
time ? ” inquired the doctor, as he glanced at me. 

“ Not that I know of,” replied Butts. 

“ Where were all the servants ? ” 

“ I think they had all gone to bed. When I 
went into the kitchen after some matches to light 
the fire in the hall, there was no one there.” 

“ How about the door that opens into the back 
street ? ” asked Mr. Lawrence. 

“This was locked, as it always is,” replied 
Butts. 

“And the window opening into the street?” 

“ I don’t know any thing about that,” replied 
Butts shaking his head. “I only know that I 
never knew it to be open ; and I am sure it has 
been closed ever since I came here.” 

“ To the best of your knowledge and belief, 
Garningham was the last person in the sheds 
before the fire broke out ? ” continued the doctor. 


68 


LAKE BREEZES ; OB, 


“ Yes, sir; he was,” answered Butts, looking on 
the floor, as if he was not pleased to give testi- 
mony against me. 

“ Braceback, do you know any thing about the 
fire ? ” asked Dr. Rawley. 

“Nothing at all, sir,” replied Lynch. “ I heard 
the alarm after I got into the house ; but my 
father wouldn’t let me go out again, and I didn’t 
go to the fire. I didn’t even know the wood- 
sheds were burned till this morning.” 

“ You came down from No. 42 just before the 
fire ; did you not ? ” 

“ Yes, sir ; but I didn’t know there was a rule 
forbidding day-students going to the rooms in the 
evening.” 

“ Did you see any fire at the sheds when you 
came out of the Commons ? ” 

“ No, sir : if I had, I should have raised an 
alarm,” replied Lynch, laughing at the seeming 
absurdity of the question. 

“ How long after you got into the house was 
the alarm given ? ” inquired Mr. Lawrence. 

“I don’t know, but I should say about five 
minutes ; but it may have been ten.” 

“You live down the back street, upon which 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


69 


the door and window of the woodsheds open. 
Did you see any one about the premises when you 
went out ? ” 

“Not a soul.” 

“ Which way did you go out of the Com- 
mons? ” asked the doctor. 

“ I went out at the end door, and left the yard 
by the front gate.” 

“ Why didn’t you go out at the gate on the 
back street ? It would have been nearer for you.” 

“I don’t know why I didn’t, unless it was 
because I am not in the habit of going out that 
way,” replied Lynch, laughing as though he had 
given a good answer to a question which was 
intended to “ corner ” him. 

“ On which side of the back street did you 
walk on your way home ? ” 

“ On the side next to the sheds.” 

“ Did you see anybody on that street ? ” 

“ No, sir ; not a soul.” 

“ Was the door of the sheds open ? ” demanded 
Mr. Lawrence, with sudden energy. 

“ No, sir : both the door and the window were 
closed.” 

“ Then you noticed that they were closed ? ” 


70 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ Yes, sir : a gust of wind struck me in the 
face, and I stopped to turn up my coat-collar ; 
and I am sure if they had been open I should 
have noticed the fact,” answered Lynch ; and I 
think he colored a little ; but any one might have 
been flushed under such a cross-fire of questions. 

44 You feel confident that the door and window 
were closed, do you ? ” asked the doctor. 

“ If they had been open, I am very sure I should 
have noticed it, for I stopped to fix my collar 
right in front of the door. I turned towards the 
door at the time.” 

“ Did you think of the door at the time ? ” 

“ No, sir : I was only thinking of getting home 
without being frozen to death,” replied Lynch, 
shrugging his shoulders. 

“ You saw no one in that street? ” 

“ No, sir ; no one. If there was any person 
about at the time, he hid himself when I passed.” 

“That will do, Braceback,” added the doctor. 
“ Mr. Butts, how long before the fire was it that 
you went into the sheds ? ” 

“ I didn’t go into the sheds at all after dark : I 
never do. I always get in my wood and kindlings 
while school is in session,” replied the janitor. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


71 


“Was any one in the sheds after dark besides 
Garningham ? ” 

“No, sir: I think not.” 

“ Have you any means of knowing ? ” 

“ I know the wood was got for the kitchen 
before dark ; and all the servants say they did not 
go into the sheds after supper.” 

Dr. Rawley looked upon the floor, and for a 
few minutes seemed to be considering the case. 

“ It appears from the evidence we have heard 
that Garningham was the only person who went 
into the sheds after dark,” said he, speaking very 
deliberately ; and I saw that he was about to sum 
up the testimony, and give his conclusion. “ Gar- 
ningham, would you like to ask the witnesses any 
questions ? ” 

“ No, sir,” I replied. 

I was not a little disgusted with the proceed- 
ings, though I did not see how the judge could 
resist the conclusion which he evidently intended 
to announce. 

“ Perhaps it will be well to hear what Wash- 
burn and Dykeman know about the matter,” 
added the principal; but they knew nothing 
which had not already been brought out. 


72 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


“ It appears that Garningham was the only per- 
son that went into the sheds after dark ; that he 
obtained some matches from the janitor on his 
way ; and that the fire broke out about five min- 
utes after he left the sheds,” continued Dr. Raw- 
ley, resuming his judicial air. “ I do not see how 
we can resist the conclusion that Garningham set 
the building on fire.” 

I made no protest against this conclusion. I 
knew, if no one else did, that I did not set the 
fire. I felt a sort of pride in my innocence, which 
would not permit me to speak. I was asked if I 
had any thing to say, and I answered in the nega- 
tive. 

“As you do not even deny the charge, I ad- 
judge you guilty ; and the penalty is expulsion,” 
added the doctor. 

I was formally expelled ! 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


73 


CHAPTER VII. 

A NEEDY PROFESSOR. 

TT seemed just a little odd that I should be 
expelled from the college my father had so 
largely endowed for my especial benefit. For 
the third time I had been placed in a false posi- 
tion ; and it was again evident that I had a very 
cunning enemy near me all the time. Some one 
had set the sheds on fire : I had not done it ; 
but it was certain the incendiary intended that 
I should be charged with the act. Whoever he 
was, his plot had been a success this time. 

The burning of the sheds was a criminal 
offence, and it was possible that the conspirator 
intended to have me convicted by the court of 
the offence ; but, after I had fully considered the 
case, I did not believe that the charge could be 
proved. It had not even been conclusively shown 
that the building was set on fire by. any person ; 
and all the evidence against me was the fact that 


74 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


I had obtained some matches of the janitor, and 
had been the last person in the sheds before the 
fire • broke out. Of course it was possible that 
some person on the outside of the house had done 
the deed. 

But, after all my reflection, I was forced to say 
that the appearances were against me. I was 
not even sure that a court of justice would not 
convict me of the crime. Lynch Braceback would 
testify that he had passed down the back street 
only a few moments before the fire broke out, and 
had seen no person near the spot. I knew that I 
was innocent; and this feeling gave me a sort 
of pride which I could not repress. I was very 
anxious to have my character vindicated; and T 
was willing to use every effort in my power to 
bring about this result. 

I was not permitted to see any of my compan- 
ions, for they had to attend to their studies. I 
thought it possible, that, if we could get together, 
we might obtain some clew to the conspirator, 
though our experience as detectives had not been 
such as to afford me any substantial encourage- 
ment. A silence long enough to permit me to 
think a few moments had followed the sentence 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


75 


of the doctor. I saw that the worthy principal 
trembled with emotion, though he spoke with 
something like desperation in his manner when 
he uttered the final words. He did not like to 
send me away from the college ; but my position 
was peculiar, and he felt that he must be im- 
partial. I have no doubt it had been hinted to 
him that he could not punish the son of the bene- 
factor of the institution ; and he was struggling 
to be just against any odds. But, whatever else 
I did, I determined not to resent his severity. 
He had tried to do right ; but his fear of doing 
wrong had led him into the very error he had 
striven to avoid. 

“ You have heard the sentence, Garningham,” 
said Dr. Rawley, when he had in some measure 
recovered his self-possession. “ You are no longer 
a member of this institution.” 

“ I will leave at once, sir,” I replied, rising from 
my chair, and moving towards the door of the 
office. 

“The other students may return to their du- 
ties,” continued the doctor. 

I left the office, hoping to meet my room-mate 
before I left the college ; but I saw nothing more 


76 


LAKE BREEZES; OR. 


of him. I went to my room, and packed up 
my clothes and other articles belonging to me. 
I could hardly believe that I had been expelled 
from Somerset College, which had been revived 
and invigorated for my benefit. But I did not 
think I should remain long away from it; for I 
was confident that my innocence would be made 
apparent in some manner within a few days, or at 
most a few weeks. 

Butts was very kind and sympathetic : he was 
evidently very sorry for me, even while he could 
not help believing that I was guilty of the charge 
upon which I had been expelled. I did not blame 
him, after the consideration the authorities had 
given to the matter, for he could hardly help the 
conclusion he had reached. 

He offered to carry my bundles for me ; but I 
declined his kind offices, fearful that he might 
be blamed for his good-will towards a convicted 
and expelled student. I walked up to the store 
where Mr. Brickland bought his goods, and left 
my packages, intending to come for them with 
a wagon some other time. I felt like a waif on 
the sea of existence again, as when I was wander- 
ing from the persecutions of my former guardian. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


77 


I was not guilty ; and I could not explain how 
it was that I did not like to meet the people in 
Montomercy, with whom I had been rather a 
favorite, if I may judge from the notice they took 
of me. I found myself trying to avoid the famil- 
iar faces I should gladly have confronted under 
other circumstances. The storekeeper looked at 
me more attentively, I thought, than usual, and 
it seemed to me at that moment just as though he 
believed me guilty of some crime. But he said 
nothing, and smiled as sweetly as ever. I did not 
feel right at all. 

Next to the store was the bank, with which my 
father had done a great deal of business; but 
I was not inclined to enter, though it was one of 
my usual “ loafing ” places when I had nothing to 
do, and was waiting about the town. The cashier 
was always very civil to me ; but, as he happened 
to pass me at the entrance of the bank, I thought 
he looked more stern than usual, as though he 
had heard of my discharge at the college. Inno- 
cent as I was, I -could not escape these strong 
imaginings. 

As I passed the barn on my way to the river 
road which led to Mr. Brickland’s house, I noticed 


78 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


a very seedy-looking man, who halted as I ap- 
proached. He was a stranger to me ; but, as he 
looked as though he intended to accost me, I 
slackened my pace. I thought he might wish to 
ask me a question, perhaps to find some place, or 
the residence of some one in town. 

“ Excuse me,” said the stranger, with a great 
deal of embarrassment in his manner, “but may 
I speak to you for a moment ? ” 

“ To be sure you may : this is a free country,” 
I replied. 

“It is free to those who have money enough 
to pay for the necessities of life,” he added, with 
a sickly smile. 

“ And just as free for all others : they may go 
where they please, and do what they like, if they 
don’t break the laws.” 

“ How can a hungry man get any thing to eat 
without breaking the laws?” he asked, with a 
great deal of bitterness in his tone. 

“ That’s a conundrum,” I answered ; “ and there 
are a great many ways to do it but the best way 
I know of is to go to work, earn some money, and 
buy something to eat.” 

“ But if one can obtain no work ? ” he added 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


T9 


quite earnestly. “ But excuse me : we seem to 
attract attention. Will you do me the favor to 
retire to some less exposed place ? ” 

In spite of myself, I felt an interest in the 
stranger, perhaps because he appeared to have 
been unfortunate, like myself. I led the way to 
the rear of the store, where there were some sheds 
used by the country people for their horses when 
they came to town to buy goods. I found a 
bench in one of these, on which we seated our- 
selves, though I noticed that he shivered with 
the cold. 

“ If one cannot obtain work ? ” he repeated, 
as he seated himself on the bench. 

“ There are always people enough who are will- 
ing to feed the hungry,” I suggested. 

“ Where are they ? can you point me out such 
a person ? ” he demanded eagerly. 

“ I think if you should apply to any house in 
the town, you could get something to eat,” I 
replied, looking at the stranger. 

He was a man of not more than thirty-five, if 
he was as old as that. His clothes had formerly 
been of good quality, though their day of service 
for a genteel person was well-nigh passed. I 


80 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


could see that he had made an effort to keep 
himself tidy on a dearth of material. 

“Young man, I spoke to you rather than to 
an older person in the street, because you have 
not had your sympathies blunted by too much 
contact with a cold world,” said the stranger 
impressively. 

“If I can do any thing for you, I should be 
glad to do it,” I replied. 

“ Possibly a young man like you may not be 
as likely to have any money in his pocket as an 
older one,” he added. 

“ I have money,” I replied ; and I happened 
to have over five dollars in my pocket at that 
moment. “ But I thought you wanted something 
to eat.” 

“That is what I want; and money will buy 
it,” said he, with a sort of desperation. “I am 
not a beggar ; and between going to a door, and 
begging for something to eat, and starving to 
death, there is little to choose with me. Young 
man, I am a gentleman : I was a college professor 
less than three months ago.” 

“ Indeed ! ” I exclaimed, rather startled by the 
announcement. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


81 


“Circumstances beyond my control, and for 
which I was not responsible, threw me out of my 
position ; and since that I have been like Cain, a 
wanderer upon the face of the earth.” 

I saw him wipe a tear from his eye, while an- 
other stole down his wan face. It was too much 
for me. I pulled out my wallet, and took from it 
a dollar. I tendered it to him, and he took it with 
something like the clutch of a maniac. 

“ I thank you, young man. Your face did not 
belie your heart,” said he, as he thrust the dollar 
into his vest-pocket, and rose from his seat. 

“ Where are you going now ? ” I asked. 

“ To the hotel ; they will give me a breakfast, if 
I pay for it in advance,” he replied, as he moved 
towards the street. 

“ And you say you have been a professor in a 
college ? ” I continued ; for I wanted to know more 
about him. 

I wondered whether or not he had been accused 
of setting fire to the college sheds, and expelled 
for it. He was a castaway, as I felt that I was 
myself ; and my sympathies went out to him. 

“ I have been ; but I am hungry now, and you 
will pardon me if I hasten to the hotel,” he re- 
plied. 


82 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


“ Certainly,” I answered ; and I saw that a hun- 
gry man could not feel much like toelftng the his- 
tory of his misfortunes on an empty stomach. 
“ But may I not see you again ? I am interested 
in you.” 

“ I thank you, and I shall be happy to meet you. 
again.” 

“ One question more : in what college were you 
a professor? ” 

He would only whisper it in my ear, but it was 
one of the most celebrated in the land. I detained 
him no longer, and he disappeared at the corner 
of the street. I walked home, and the Bricklands 
were not a little astonished to see me. When I 
told them I was not guilty of the crime for which 
I had been expelled, they all seemed to believe me. 
Nothing more was said about the affair at the time. 
In the middle of the afternoon, I went up to town 
with the horse and wagon, for my clothes and 
books. 

As I was driving back, I saw the college pro- 
fessor so drunk he could hardly walk. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


83 


CHAPTER VIII. 

AN HONEST CONFESSION. 

F course I realized, when I saw the professor 



in such a condition that he could not navi- 
gate, that my dollar had been put to a bad use ; and 
I was correspondingly indignant. I was inclined 
to hail him, and reproach him soundly for the use 
he had made of the money ; but it was foolish to 
talk to a tipsy man, and I said nothing. The pro- 
fessor — if he was a professor, and I began to 
have some grave doubts on the subject — saw me 
in the wagon, and spoke to me. 

“I want to see you, young man,” shouted he. 
“ I agreed to meet you again ; and I always keep 
my word when it is practicable to do so.” 

“ Never mind it now, ” I replied. “ I think you 
must have eaten too much dinner, for you don’t 
seem to be very well.” 

“Too much dinner? No, sir! that’s not it: I 
have drunk too much whiskey. Call things by 
their right names, young man. I am drunk ! ” 


84 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ I should say that was about the right name 
for it, professor,” I replied. 

“ So it is,” he added, staggering into the street 
where I had stopped the horse. “ I want to talk 
to you; for you are a young man with a good 
heart. You are willing to help the needy.” 

“ I’m not as willing as I was ; and I think I 
shall be a little careful how I do it the next time.” 

“ I see what you mean, young man ; but I for- 
give you.” 

“ I don’t ask to be forgiven.” 

“But I want to see you. I warn you against 
the practice of drinking intoxicating drinks. It is 
a very bad habit to get into ; and I advise you, as 
one who knows all about it, never drink a drop of 
any thing.” 

“ I shall never do it ; and I think I am a better 
person to advise you on this subject than you are 
to warn me,” I answered, somewhat amused at the 
novelty of his position. 

“ You don’t know any thing at all about it; and 
I know all about it. Those who have suffered 
most from the habit are the best qualified to warn 
others. One that knows what he is talking about 
is better than one who don’t know. A man that 


THE CRUISE OF THE S YL VANIA. 


85 


don’t understand any Latin is not the right one to 
hear you recite from Virgil.” 

“ I think I should rather hear you at some other 
time,” I answered. 

“ When I’m not drunk, you mean ? ” 

“Yes: that is what I mean. Where are you 
going now ? ” 

“ N o where : I have no place to go to. I have 
spent the dollar you loaned me, half for a break- 
fast, and half for whiskey. I am almost sober 
now; and the next thing will be for me to find 
where I shall get my next drink, ” said he, leaning 
against the wheel of the wagon. 

“ Where are you going to sleep to-night ? ” 

“ In any shed or barn which happens to have 
the door left open. Perhaps I may have to sleep 
on the ground.” 

“ But you will sleep your last sleep if you do 
so in this cold weather,” I suggested, rather 
moved by his homeless condition. 

“ So much the better ! ” exclaimed he. “ The 
only hope for me in this world is death.” 

But I saw that a crowd was gathering around 
the wagon, and I was not anxious to be the centra 
of observation at the present time. 


86 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ I must go home now. Won’t you ride with 
me a short distance ? ” I asked. 

He made no verbal answer, but attempted to get 
into the wagon, though he did not succeed till he 
was assisted by Butts, who happened to be in the 
street at the time. I helped him to a seat at my 
side. He seemed to be very weak, and he was 
able to control his speech much better than his 
limbs. I drove down the river road ; and my pas- 
senger held on with both hands, for the way was 
very rough in the spring of the year. He could 
not talk under these circumstances, and I asked 
him no more questions. 

But I did not like the idea of taking him to the 
house of Mr. Brickland, for I feared his good lady 
would object to receiving such a guest. I felt an 
interest in the man, in spite of the manner in 
which he had expended the dollar. Tipsy as he 
was, his language and pronunciation were correct. 
I desired to know his history; for he had been 
driven from one college, and I from another. It 
was a cold snap just then, and I was afraid he 
would be frozen to death if he was not taken care 
of. It occurred to me that he could be quartered 
on board of the Sylvania without much danger of 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


87 


doing her any harm. I often slept on board of 
her myself, and I could make the professor as 
comfortable as he would be in the house. 

I drove to the landing-place. My passenger 
seemed to be nearly frozen, for the ride of two 
miles had chilled him through. He was but poorly 
clad, and had no overcoat : he told me afterwards 
that he had sold it to obtain whiskey. With my 
assistance he alighted from the wagon ; and I con- 
ducted him to the pilot-house, from which a door 
led into the captain’s room. I had a little stove 
in the former, and I made a fire in it. In a few 
moments the apartment was warm enough, and I 
left my passenger in order to put up the horse. I 
put my books and clothes on board of the steamer, 
for I thought I should spend most of my time 
there during the period of my suspension; for I 
did not think it would amount to expulsion in the 
end, by whatever name it was called. 

The Sylvania had been frozen up all winter in 
the river ; but a recent thaw and blow had cleaned 
out the ice, and she was afloat in clear water, 
moored to the little wharf I had built for her. She 
was eighty-six feet long by sixteen feet beam. 
Next to my own room was that of the engineers, 


88 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


in which I thought I could bestow my passenger. 
But I intended to remain on board myself, for I 
would not trust a man of his habits alone in her. 

Even while the beautiful vessel was frozen up, 
I had entertained my friends on board ; for we all 
enjoyed being in the cabin and pilot-house when 
it was too cold to be out doors. I had cooked 
many a dinner and supper on board while she lay 
in the ice ; and I had a plentiful supply of pro- 
visions in the hold and ice-house : I had bacon, 
potatoes, ship-bread, salt fish, pork, and groceries ; 
so that I could have fed a ship’s company very 
well for a week or more. 

After I had put up the horse, I told the folks 
in the house that I should stay on board of the 
Sylvania, as I often did ; and no questions were 
asked. I returned to the steamer, and found my 
passenger had gone to sleep on the bench near the 
stove. I did not wake him, for I thought that 
rest of this kind would do him more good than 
any thing else. I went out to the galley, and made 
a fire in the cook-stove ; for I did not suppose my 
guest had eaten any thing since his breakfast, and 
it was now four o’clock in the afternoon. I put 
on a kettle of potatoes, and cut a slice of ham 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


89 


ready to be fried for his supper. By the time I 
had done this, the professor awoke without any 
help from me. 

My passenger seemed to be entirely sober, and 
looked around the pilot-house as though he did 
not fully comprehend how he happened to be 
there. He asked me a great many questions 
about the Sylvania, which I answered. 

“Do you live on board of her?” he asked, 
when I had given him the history of the beautiful 
craft. 

“ No, sir ; only for a few days at a time, for 
the fun of it. But I will stay on board with you 
while you remain.” 

“ Thank you, young man. Will you oblige me 
with your name ? ” 

“Alexander Garningham; but I am generally 
called Alick by my friends.” 

“ I am one of ‘your friends, and I shall call you 
Alick. Is there any cold water on board?” he 
asked, looking about him. 

“ Plenty of it, sir ; ” and I brought him a 
pitcher from the bucket I had filled in the 
forenoon. 

“Thank you, Alick,” said he, when he had 
taken a long draught. 


90 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“Will you oblige me with your name, pro- 
fessor ? ” I continued, thinking that one good 
turn deserved another. 

“ Certainly, Alick : my name is Buckmin- 

ster,” he replied, stumbling when he came to 
the name. 

“Buckminster!” I exclaimed. “Are you re- 
lated to Alfred Buckminister, who lives on the 
Hudson?” 

This was the name of the gentleman whose 
daughter I had saved when she fell overboard at 
the pier in New York City, who had given me a 
suit of clothes and some money, and had wished 
to do a great deal more for me. 

“ I am a relative of his,” replied the professor ; 
but I thought he was a little startled when 
I mentioned the name. “ Why do you ask ? ” 

“ For nothing : only I happen to know this 
gentleman. I met him a few years ago. But 
you haven’t been to dinner, Mr. Buckminster ? ” 

“ No : I seldom eat more than one meal a day, 
and sometimes not even one,” he replied with 
something like a shudder ; but I thought it was 
caused by his pride rather than by his hunger. 

“I will have some dinner ready for you in a 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


91 


few minutes. The potatoes are boiling now,” I 
replied, as I rose to return to the galley. 

“I need not give you all this trouble, Alick. 
Perhaps you had better give me another dollar, 
if you have one, and let me leave you forever.” 

“No: I will not give you another dollar, 
though I have one ; but I will give you a dinner, 
and make you as comfortable as I can while you 
stay on board of the Sylvania.” 

I did not wait for his answer, but went out to 
the galley, where I found that the potatoes were 
nearly done. I set the table on the sideboard 
in the kitchen, for this was where the hands 
usually took their meals when we were out on 
the lakes. I cooked the ham as nicely as I could, 
and poured off the coffee. The table was well 
garnished with ’small dishes of bread, butter, 
pickles, and other relishes ; and I was not ashamed 
of the board to which I invited the professor. At 
first he said he had no appetite ; but he ate like 
a hungry man, after all. He declared that the 
coffee was as good as he ever drank in his life, 
and he had lived a year in Paris. 

“ Alick, I am very grateful to you for all this, 
and I hope the time will come when I shall be 


92 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


able to repay yon for all your kindness. No ! it 
will never come : I shall never be any tiling but 
what I am now,” he exclaimed. 

“ You said you were discharged from your posi- 
tion as a professor in the college on account of 
circumstances entirely beyond your own control,” 
I added, wishing to change the subject of the 
conversation. 

“ That was what I said,” he replied bitterly. 

“ Do you object to stating what those circuim 
stances were ? I was expelled from Somerset 
College just before I met you this morning ; and 
our circumstances seem to be somewhat alike.” 

“Not at all alike,” he protested emphatically. 
“ You were expelled for some college prank : I 
was discharged for — for drunkenness ! ” 

I could not understand him. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


93 


CHAPTER IX. 

THE TROUBLE AT THE BANK. 

“ /CIRCUMSTANCES beyond his control!” 

This was what Professor Buckminster 
called drunkenness. I did not comprehend him, 
and I asked for an explanation. 

“ My father was as good a man as ever lived,” 
said he, fixing his gaze intently upon me, as 
though he meant all he said ; “ but unhappily he 
was addicted to the use of intoxicating drinks, 
which caused his death in misery and disgrace in 
the end, as it will mine in a few months or weeks. 
I shall be found dead, before many days, by the 
roadside.” 

“ I hope not,” I added, shocked by his words. 

“ It is impossible to avoid the end. I inherited 
my father’s love of strong drink. The excite- 
ment of it is necessary to my existence. I am no 
more responsible for it than I am for the shape 
of my nose.” 


94 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ You could not help drinking when you were 
a professor in the college ? ” I inquired, not quite 
willing to accept his theory. 

“ Certainly not. It was a part of my nature 
to drink. My father was a great scholar. I in* 
herited his aptness to learn, his memory, his 
ingenuity ; in a word, his talents. It is no credit 
to me that I was the best scholar in my class in 
college, for I inherited my brains. In the same 
manner I inherited this curse of an appetite for 
drink, and it is no fault of mine. When I was dis- 
charged from my high position as a professor, it 
was as much a part of my destiny as it was for me 
to obtain the situation.” 

I realized that he was thoroughly in earnest, 
and fully believed the theory he advanced. For 
my own part, I was very much in doubt whether 
his conclusion was a correct one. 

“ Did you ever try to stop drinking? ” I asked. 

“ Many and many a time ; but I might as well 
have attempted to arrest the current of Niagara,” 
he replied with energy. 

“ What do you do when you are out of money, 
and can’t obtain any liquor?” I asked, very much 
interested in his case. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVAHIA. 


95 


“ I suffer all the tortures of the criminal on the 
rack. But I have always managed in some way 
to obtain liquor after a few hours’ abstinence, as 
I did when I met you this morning.” 

“ If I were in your place, I should stop drink- 
ing, whatever broke,” I added. 

“ You do not understand the matter,” he pro- 
tested. “ You have no idea of this infernal appe- 
tite.” 

“ When I knew it was killing me, I should do 
without it. I should be sure, if I didn’t drink 
the next glass of whiskey, that I should be all 
right.” 

“ You are a child in this matter; and may God 
keep you always a child in it! You have no 
gnawing at your vitals.” 

“ Do you have any just now ? ” I inquired. 

“ Not at this moment,” he replied with a faint 
smile, “ for I have just finished a hearty dinner ? 
bnt as soon as my stomach begins to be empty 
there will be a pain there, and I must drink whis- 
key to allay it.” 

“We won’t let the stomach get empty again,” 
I added, laughing. “ You shall stay with me for 
a while, professor, if you are willing.” 


96 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“I am willing and glad to do so, if the fierce 
promptings of this demon of appetite do not 
drive me away from you.” 

“ Do you really wish to cure yourself of this 
habit? Are you willing to make an effort to do 
so?” 

“ Is the drowning man willing to be saved ? Is 
the wretch who is enduring the pangs of the most 
intense suffering, moral as well as physical, will- 
ing to be relieved? I am willing to make an 
effort,” he replied with energy. “ I suffer a thou- 
sand times more from the disgrace in which I 
am plunged than from cold and hunger.” 

44 Then we will begin to do something now,” I 
continued. 44 1 am only a boy, and I don’t know 
much more about this matter than what you have 
told me ; but I think you and I together can cast 
out this devil.” 

44 1 am afraid there is no hope,” said he with 
a sigh. 44 1 have tried many times.” 

44 Perhaps you had no help, or not the right 
kind.” 

44 1 never had any help, for I would never allow 
anybody to talk to me about the matter.” 

44 1 don’t know any thing about the case, as you 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


97 


say ; but I knew a man once who inherited the 
rheumatism from his mother, and it certainly was 
not his fault that he had the rheumatism ; but this 
did not prevent him from doing something to 
ease the pain, and cure the disease. I think it 
would have been just as sensible for him to have 
given up, and took the grinding pain as it came, 
because he was no more responsible for it than he 
was for the shape of his nose, as it is to say you 
can’t stop drinking because your father died of 
intemperance.” 

“You are a bold young man to talk to me like 
that.” 

“I don’t see any thing to be afraid of. I do 
not see any reason why you should take another 
glass of liquor, any more than that I should do 
so.” 

“ How can I stop it ? ” he asked blankly. 

“ Don’t take any more : that’s all I know about 
it. If you say that you will make the effort, I 
will do all I can to help you, professor.” 

“ I will make the effort if you will permit me to 
remain on board of this vessel.” 

“ I will ; and I will see that you have enough to 
eat, and are kept warm and comfortable.” 


98 


LAKE BKEEZES; OE, 


“ A thousand thanks ! I have not known what 
it was to be regularly fed, and to be warm for 
more than an hour or two at a time, for months.” 

He gaped and yawned while he was speaking ; 
and I concluded that his full stomach made him 
sleepy. He told me he had walked nearly the 
whole of the night before. He could obtain no 
whiskey, and he was obliged to keep moving to 
avoid being frozen. He had walked all the way 
from one of the New-England States. He was a 
“ tramp,” in fact. He told me he had fled from 
the college as soon as his disgrace was made pub- 
lic. He had a little money, and had kept himself 
intoxicated for a whole week, though he was not 
so drunk that he could not walk. When his 
money was exhausted, he had sold his watch, and 
then the contents of the little bundle of clothes 
he had carried in his hands. He would not ride, 
lest he should meet some one that knew him. At 
Port Huron he had sold his overcoat on one of 
the mild days of the spring ; but he had spent his 
last penny long before he reached Montomercy. 

He had never begged when not absolutely suf- 
fering for food. He was not going anywhere ; he 
had no end or object in view; he expected to 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


99 


perish with cold and hunger in the course of a 
few weeks. He seemed to have no strength of 
mind left to resist the fate he anticipated. He 
had plenty of pride left, and declared that he 
would die rather than return to his friends in the 
East, though they were willing to do every thing 
in the world for him. 

As he continued to gape, I concluded that the 
best thing for him would be a good bed, and I 
prepared the room of the engineers for him. He 
was glad enough to retire, though it was not yet 
dark. I insisted that he should undress himself, 
and I put plenty of blankets on him. He was 
asleep before I left the room, and I went out, clos- 
ing the door after me. 

I had some very decided views in regard to 
my passenger. I was confident that I could keep 
him sober long enough to let him know how it 
felt, for he told me he had always drank liquor 
since he left college as a student. He had not 
passed a day without drinking up to the time of 
his expulsion, except at the times when he tried to 
cure himself of the habit ; and he had never suc- 
ceeded in refraining from the use of the cup foi 
more than two or three days. 


100 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


As soon as he was asleep, I called Dick Blister, 
who lived with Mr. Brickland, taking care of the 
cattle and doing the work about the house. With 
his assistance, I carried the heavy anchor out into 
the middle of the river in the tender, and dropped 
it overboard. Casting off the fasts which secured 
the Sylvania to the wharf, the current carried her 
out into the stream till the cable attached to the 
anchor brought her up. Thus moored, she lay 
about three hundred feet from the shore. 

“What’s all that for?” asked Dick Blister, 
when the work was done. 

“ I have a passenger on board,” I replied ; “ and 
I don’t want him to leave during the night.” 

“I heard you had a rum customer on board,” 
laughed Dick. “Have you seen Mr. Brickland 
since supper ? ” 

“ I have not.” 

“ He was looking for you ; and he seems to be 
in a big stew about something,” added Dick. 

“ What’s the matter ? ” 

“I haven’t the least idea; but he had some 
company this afternoon.” 

I wondered what had happened to disturb Mr. 
Brickland. Very likely some one from town had 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVAUIA. 


101 


been down to see him about my case. I had told 
him my story ; but he appeared to think that I 
told the truth, and I had not brought forward 
any argument in my defence. I returned to the 
shore with Dick, anxious to know what had oc- 
curred to excite my worthy friend. We left no 
boat at the steamer ; and the professor could not 
get ashore if he should happen to wake in my 
absence. 

I found Mr. Brickland in the sitting-room. He 
was considerably excited, and I thought it quite 
probable that some one had been telling bad sto- 
ries about me. Very likely the day scholars had 
gone home, and informed their parents that I had 
been expelled ; and the story had been exagge- 
rated, as such things always are. 

“ What’s the matter, uncle Brickland ? ” I asked, 
using the familiar appellation by which I often 
addressed him. 

“I didn’t say that any thing was the matter,” 
he replied with his accustomed smile. 

“ Has any one been here telling bad stories 
about me?” I continued. 

“No: why do you ask such a question? I 
never knew you to tell a lie yet, and I believe all 


102 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


you said about the fire at the college last night ; 
and I should believe it if the whole town came 
down to tell me it wasn’t so. Who told you 
that any thing was the matter ? ” 

“ Dick said you wanted to see me ; and I con- 
cluded it was about the fire last night.” 

“Nothing of the sort. They say there have 
been at least three attempts made within a couple 
of months to rob the Montomercy Bank, and the 
last of them was made last night.” 

“ I hadn’t heard a word about it. Do they sus- 
pect any body ? ” 

“No; they kept still about it for fear it might 
injure the bank. This afternoon Captain Green 
called upon me : he is one of the directors, and 
he notified me that the package in the vault which 
contains your bonds is kept there on my respon- 
sibility. If the bank should be robbed, the loss 
would be mine, or rather yours. I was much 
alarmed about it, and since supper I have been 
for the package. And now the question is, what 
shall be done with them ? ” 

This was a hard question, and I was not ready 
to answer it. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


103 


CHAPTER X. 


THE HIDDEN TREASURE. 

S I have said before, this package contained 



over a hundred thousand dollars in bonds, 
which were the same as money, besides other secu- 
ities. If any thing should happen to my father’s 
estates on the other side of the ocean, this would 
be all the fortune that would come to me. It was 
enough, as I understood the matter; and I did 
not wish to lose it. 

For two months I had not heard a word from 
my father, though before that time I had a letter 
every week. I could not think what had become 
of him. His relations were contesting the ques- 
tion of the succession of the title, or some matter 
which affected it. His last letter was hopeful, 
and I had hardly given the matter a thought 
since. 

“If it should be known that this package is 
in the house, it would certainly be broken into,” 


104 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


said Mr. Brickland, with considerable excitement 
and even agitation. 

“ It need not be known,” I replied. 

“ But it is already known to a few persons ; and 
it does not take long for such things to be dis- 
covered by the whole town.” 

“ Where is the package now ? ” I asked. 

“ It is in my desk ; but that is no place for it.” 

“I think it would be the safest on board 
of the steamer, ” I suggested. “ I have anchored 
her in the middle of the river, and I intend to 
sleep on board of her every night.” 

“ What is that for ? ” inquired Mr. Brickland. 

I explained that I intended to prevent Professor 
Buckminster from drinking any more liquor ; and, 
if I could keep him sober, I meant to continue 
my studies under his direction. The good man 
approved this plan under my present circum- 
stances ; for he knew that my father would not be 
willing I should neglect preparation for college. 
Before he went away, it was understood that I 
should make a cruise in the Sylvania during the 
months of J uly and August ; but I was to do my 
best with my studies till that time. 

“ If you can’t keep this man in a condition to 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


105 


instruct you, another person must be employed 
for the purpose,” said Mr. Brickland. “I have 
been thinking ever since you came home, what 
I should do with you. Your father would never 
forgive you or me if your education is neglected.” 

“ I don’t mean to neglect it. Mr. Buckminster 
is a great scholar ; and, as long as I can keep him 
on board of the Sylvania, he must be sober.” 

“We will consider that settled for the present. 
But what shall we do with the package ? Another 
attempt was made last night to break into the bank, 
though they have a man to sleep in it every 
night.” 

“ Who sleeps there ? ” I asked, for I had not 
heard of this fact before. 

“ Captain Braceback : he has had nothing to do 
since he lost his place as commander of the Syl- 
vania. He came to Montomercy because he could 
live cheaper here than in Detroit. They say he is 
poor, and has hard work to get along.” 

“ I don’t think he can be very poor, or he would 
not be able to pay his son’s tuition at Somerset 
College,” I added. 

u I only know what Captain Green says about 
it. He told me that Braceback had been looking 


106 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


for work of some kind since he came to Monto- 
mercy. They pay him a dollar a night for watch- 
ing the bank, or for sleeping in it. Green says 
this is all he has to live on.” 

“I should think the robbers would know that 
some one slept in the bank ; at any rate, if they 
have tried three times, they must have found it 
out by this time.” 

“ I never heard a word about the matter till 
Captain Green called upon me to-day. It seems 
that when the first attempt to break in was made, 
Captain Braceback suggested to the president 
that some one ought to sleep in the bank ; and, as 
he had nothing to do, he offered to stay there for 
a dollar a night. Some of the directors thought 
it was a needless expense after a while, and wanted 
to save it : but, soon after, another attempt was 
made to get in. An auger-bit was found on the 
ground, and a hole near the fastening of one of 
the shutters. Braceback said he fired a shot out 
the window, and this scared the robbers away.” 

“Did he fire at any one last night? ” I asked, 
considerably interested in the account. 

“ He says he fired twice at three men, who ran 
down the river road. They left some tools near 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


107 


the window, and had begun to bore the shutter 
again.” 

“ Of course the robbers must know that a man 
sleeps in the bank.” 

“Bank-robbers are generally desperate charac- 
ters ; and I have no doubt, if they only got into 
the building, they would make an end of Captain 
Braceback very quick. I shouldn’t want to be in 
his place.” 

“The president seems to believe in Captain 
Braceback,” I added ; and I was thinking of some- 
thing I could not well define. 

“ I have no doubt Captain Braceback is a good 
man. The president is a retired steamboat-cap- 
tain, and Braceback was the mate of liis boat.” 

“But what is to be done with the package? 
Don’t you think it will be safest on board of the 
Sylvania if I sleep on board every night ? ” I 
continued, returning to the “ question before the 
house.” 

“No, I don’t, Alick. In addition to the danger 
of the package being stolen, it may be burned up 
or sunk, if any thing happens to the boat,” replied 
Mr. Brickland, shaking his head. 

“ And so the house may be burned.” 


108 


LAKE BREEZES; OR. 


“ If it is, what’s left of it won’t go to the bottom 
of the river or the lake.” 

I had to admit the force of his reasoning. We 
talked about the matter half an hour longer, and 
then concluded to bury the treasure at the bottom 
of the cellar, where it could not be burned with 
the house, and where, as no one but Mr. Brickland 
and myself, not even Mrs. Brickland, knew it was 
there, it was not likely to be stolen. We wrapped 
the package in oil-cloth, so that the dampness 
would not injure it, and then dug a hole two feet 
deep to receive it. When we had filled it up, we 
carefully removed all the spare earth, relaid the 
bricks we had taken up, and then covered the spot 
with barrels of potatoes. I was very confident 
that no one would think of digging in that place 
any more than in another for the treasure. 

Mrs. Brickland and all the rest of the family 
were up stairs while we were at work. I had 
walked around the house before the job was begun 
in order to satisfy myself that none of the neigh- 
bors or others were near enough to look in at the 
cellar windows. More depended upon the secrecy 
of our proceedings than upon any other circum- 
stance. I was confident that we had done exceed- 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


109 


ingly well, and that the treasure was safer than if 
it had been in the vault of the bank. When we 
had finished, I hastened back to the steamer, fear- 
ful that my passenger had waked, though he could 
npt get ashore. It was now about half-past seven 
in the evening. I went out at the side door, and I 
had hardly closed it behind me before I saw a 
form approaching me in the darkness. 

“Is that you, Captain Alick?” said Lynch 
Braceback, stepping up to me at this moment. 

“ Is that you, Lynch ? ” I replied ; and I was 
greatly relieved to find that it was he, for I had 
feared some one had been spying about the house 
while we were at work in the cellar. 

I noticed that he was not in the path when I 
first saw him, but appeared to come out from be- 
hind a clump ef shrubs that grew near the corner 
of the house. 

“ I was just going up to the front door to ring 
the bell when I heard you come out,” he added. 

This explained how he happened to be out of 
the path, for that circumstance had troubled me 
for an instant. He had crossed the lawn from the 
path to the front door to that leading to the side 
door. 


110 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ What are you doing down here so late in the 
evening, Lynch ? ” I asked. 

“ My father went over to the bank as soon as 
he had his supper to-night; and I wanted to see 
you,” he replied ; and I thought he stammered a 
little. 

“ I have to go on board of the steamer now,” 
I added, wishing he had staid at home. 

“ All right : I will go with you. My father 
would kill me if he knew I was out,” said Lynch 
lightly, as though he had done a good thing in 
evading his vigilance. “ I couldn’t wait till morn- 
ing before I saw you ; and I came down.” 

“I see you did,” I continued, as we walked 
towards the wharf. 

“ The fellows are almost in rebellion at the col- 
lege because you were expelled,” rattled Lynch, 
talking as rapidly as he could. “Ellie says he 
shall write to his father to take him away from 
the college, and Bob Washburn says the same. 
My father told me a week ago that he couldn’t 
afford to pay my bills any longer ; and so I shall 
leave. That will make four of us out.” 

“ I hope the fellows won’t make a tempest about 
the matter. Dr. Rawley did what he believed was 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


Ill 


right ; and I am as sure as I can be that it will all 
come out right in the end,” I interposed. 

“Not a fellow in the school believes that you 
set the woodsheds on fire,” protested Lynch. 

“ I don’t believe it myself ; but it won’t do any 
good to get up a tempest about it.” 

“ I don’t know about that. If Dr. Hawley loses 
three scholars by his way of doing business, it will 
open his eyes.” 

“You said you were to leave because your 
father couldn’t afford to pay your bills,” I sug- 
gested. 

“ I don’t tell that to any fellow but you ; and 
I didn’t want to leave till you were expelled. I 
shall let Dr. Rawley believe that I leave because 
he turned you out for nothing,” said Lynch glibly, 
as though he thought he was doing me a great 
favor. 

“ I don’t believe in any such fraud as that ! ” I 
exclaimed indignantly. “ I am in favor of telling 
the truth, hit where it may.” 

“ But it is the truth ; for I think my father would 
pay my bills as long as I wanted to stay. I shall 
not go any more after this week,” added Lynch. 
“The fellows are trying to find out who it was 
that set the sheds on fire.” 


112 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“Well, is there any chance of their doing so?” 

“ They haven’t got ahead any yet ; but I have 
a notion of my own about it. Some men tried to 
get into the bank again last night ; and I believe 
they set the sheds on fire.” 

“ Why should they do it ? ” I asked. 

“So as to get all the people away from the 
bank : don’t you see ? ” 

“But your father was at the bank when the 
men tried to get into it.” 

“ I know he was. I went up to bed as soon as 
I got in ; and I suppose he went to the bank right 
off. I think he didn’t get into the bank before he 
fired at the men. I believe these men set the 
sheds on fire so as to get my father and others 
away from the bank.” 

This was mere supposition ; and I did not think 
it was likely to relieve me of the odium of the 
charge on which I had been expelled. Lynch got 
into the boat with me, and we went on board of 
the Sylvania. I found the professor planking the 
deck. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


113 


CHAPTER XI. 

FITTING FOR COLLEGE. 

T)R0FESS0R BUCKMINSTER seemed to be 
very nervous, and I jumped at the conclu- 
sion that he was suffering for the want of liquor. 
I had talked with Mr. Brickland about this matter, 
and he had told me what to do. His wife had 
given me a quantity of wormwood, which I pro- 
ceeded to steep at the galley. My patient knew 
all about wormwood, and he took it when I 
brought it to him in the pilot-house. 

Lynch Braceback staid with me in the galley 
while I got some tea and toast for the professor. 
I could not yet make out what his particular 
business with me was, though I supposed it was to 
inform me what “ our fellows ” thought of the 
expulsion. He had always been an exceedingly 
good friend of mine, in spite of my unpleasant 
relations with his father. After the wreck of the 
Sylvania, when I saved all on board, I had in- 


114 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


curred the enmity of Captain Braceback. I had 
been to sea enough to know how to handle a 
vessel in a storm, and something I said convinced 
the owner of the little steamer that her misfortune 
had resulted entirely from bad management on 
the part of the captain. Since he had lived in 
Montomercy the captain would not speak to me, 
or even look at me. I knew that he hated me as 
badly as it was possible for a man to hate a boy. 

But Lynch was one of my best friends, and 
appeared to be willing to do any thing to serve 
me. I concluded that he had come over simply 
to express his sympathy with me, and his indigna- 
tion at the treatment I had received at the hands 
of Dr. Rawley. But I was very unwilling that 
any tempest should be created in the college on 
my account, for I was still confident that time 
would do me ample justice. I told Lynch how I 
felt about it, and asked him to tell Elbe Dykeman 
and Bob Washburn not to leave the school on my 
account. He promised to do so, and I pulled him 
ashore after I had set my guest’s supper before 
him. 

Professor Buckminster ate very heartily of the 
simple meal I had prepared for him, and as I had 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


115 


not had my supper I joined him. He told me he 
felt better than at any time before for months. 
While his stomach was full, he did not hanker so 
fiercely for liquor. When the meal was finished, 
I cleared away the dishes. The captain’s state- 
room was abundantly heated from the stove in 
the pilot-house, and we seated ourselves in that 
apartment. 

“I think I should have gone ashore when I 
waked, if there had been any means for doing so,” 
said he. 44 1 felt the need of whiskey. I see you 
have moved the steamer out from the shore ; and 
I suppose you have done it to keep me from ?eav- 
ing you.” 

44 1 am willing to own that this was the reason,” 
I replied ; 44 for I want to save you if it is possible 
to do so.” 

44 1 will try to work with you ; for I feel more 
hope now than for months before. But I am not 
willing that you should be my servant, as it were, 
and cook and wait upon me. I will do that my' 
self. I know I should feel better if I had some 
work to do.” 

44 1 think so myself, sir ; but I am willing to do 
the cooking, for I have something better for you 
to do.” 


116 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“What is it?” he asked with interest. 

In reply I told him about my difficulties at the 
college. He took a deep interest in the case, and 
asked me a great many questions relating to my 
own and the conduct of others in the matter. In 
the course of the evening, I related to him the 
whole of my eventful history since I first came 
to consciousness in Glossenbury. It was eleven 
o’clock when the conference ended. 

“ But you have not told me what work I am to 
do,” said he, when I had risen to retire. 

“ I have told you that my father desires to fit 
me for college ; and I have just been expelled 
from the school he endowed for my benefit,” I 
replied. “ I want to continue my studies, and do 
the most I can in the next three months.” 

“ That is telling me what work you have to do, 
but not what I am to do,” added the professor. 

“ I want you to instruct me, sir,” I answered, 
surprised that he did not see what I was driving 
at. 

“ To serve as your private tutor : very well ; I 
am willing to do so. You will not be the first 
private pupil I have instructed. I have received 
a thousand dollars a year for taking care of a 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


117 


single scholar ; and I fitted one of only fair 
ability in a year so that he entered without a 
condition, and went into the first half of the 
freshman class. But, Alick, I fear that I shall 
not be able to let whiskey alone,” said he, shaking 
his head mournfully. 

“ If you will leave that to me, I will try to 
keep you away from it.” 

“ I will leave it to you, Alick ; and I will not 
complain of any thing you do. As I am to be 
your master in the studies, you shall be mine in 
the conduct of life.” 

“ Do you feel as though you wanted any liquor 
to-night?” I asked. 

“No: just at this moment I loathe the thought 
of it,” protested he. “But if I should wake in 
the night when my stomach is empty, a certain 
gnawing pain, which I cannot describe, will take 
hold of me ; and that is the time I want whiskey.” 

“But it will be easy enough to fill up the 
stomach,” I suggested. “ You have eaten so late 
in the evening that I think you can hardly be 
hungry before morning.” 

“ I may sleep soundly all night,” he added. 

He rose and went to the engineer’s room, which 


118 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


I had assigned to his use. I made some more 
wormwood-tea, and placed it, with a plate of ship- 
bread, near the head of his berth. I had heard 
of the gnawing of the drunkard’s appetite ; and 
Mrs. Brickland had told me that wormwood-tea 
and food, if the sufferer could eat it, were the 
best remedies. The professor thanked me very 
warmly for the service, and assured me he should 
be able to take care of himself by the next day. 

I did not hear from him during the night, and 
when I got up in the morning he appeared to be 
still asleep. I went on shore, and procured some 
fresh provisions at the house, which I proceeded 
to cook for breakfast as soon as I returned. Be- 
fore my patient got out of his berth, I carried him 
a cup of hot coffee. He told me he had been awake 
but once in the night, and had taken the worm- 
wood-tea, which seemed to quiet his nerves, and 
enable him to go to sleep again. He felt better 
than he had for many a day before. After break- 
fast, which we had about seven o’clock, and I 
had washed the dishes, we went to work on the 
studies. The professor seemed to be a different 
man as soon as he was at work. He was full of 
fire and energy ; and I could see that he must 


THE CBUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


119 


have been a very valuable instructor to the col- 
lege in which he had been engaged. He spent the 
whole forenoon in examining me in the various 
branches ; and then bestowed a very high compli- 
ment upon Somerset College for the thoroughness 
of its instruction. He did not find it necessary 
to “ put me back ” in any thing. I was very 
much delighted with the result of the examina- 
tion, simply because it had realized my expecta- 
tions. I had been one of first scholars in the 
college ; and it would have been a damper to fall 
below the standard of my new instructor. 

I immediately went to work in earnest ; and, for 
three months from that time, Professor Buckmin- 
ster did not put his foot on the shore. After a 
couple of weeks of abstinence, he assured me that 
he had no desire for whiskey. Early in May, 
when the pleasant weather came, we got up steam 
on the Sylvania, and ran down to the lake, where 
we anchored half a mile from the land, but in a 
sheltered place where the storms could not seri- 
ously affect us. I took the Lakebird with me, so 
that I could run up to Montomercy as occasion 
should require. The professor and I became fast 
friends. He stimulated me to the most tremem 


120 


LAKE BREEZES; OR. 


dous exertion in my studies ; and I was surprised 
at my own progress. I am sure I did better than 
I should if I had remained in Somerset College ; 
but this was owing to the extraordinary efficiency 
of my teacher. 

Every afternoon my tutor and myself took our 
exercise, either in rowing the boat, or in sailing 
the Lakebird. We had various gymnastic appara- 
tus on board, which we had bought or made ; and, 
in spite of the hard work we did, it would . have 
been difficult to find a more robust couple of stu- 
dents. I had sent to Detroit for all the books the 
professor wanted, for Mr. Brickland had plenty 
of money in his hands for my use. 

I heard very little from Somerset College, 
though Ellie and Bob came down to see me once 
in a while. They remained in the college, though 
Lynch left at the end of the week on which I Avas 
expelled. They were all very much dissatisfied, 
and were to leave the institution at the end of 
the spring term. 

The treasure we had hidden in the cellar re- 
mained there ; but we heard of no more attempts 
to rob the Montomercy Bank. 

Although my life on board the steamer, an- 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


121 


chored out in the lake, was full of incident to me, 
I shall pass over it to the beginning of the sum- 
mer vacation. Bob Washburn and Ellie Dyke- 
man had obtained the consent of their parents to 
go with me during the “ cruise of the Syl vania,” 
which was to last two months. The professor and 
I had lived a week in the Lakebird, for I had 
taken the steamer to Detroit to be hauled up, and 
put in condition for the voyage. Moses Brick- 
land, the son of my good friend, was the regular 
engineer ; and he went on board for the summer 
when we sailed from Detroit. 

I anchored off the mouth of Glinten River on 
the morning of the last day of the term of Som- 
erset College. We lay there over night, and the 
next morning I brought my friends with their 
“ bags and baggage,” down to the lake in the sail- 
boat. But I was obliged to run the Sylvania up 
the river in order to take on board the provisions 
which Mr. Brickland had purchased from the list 
I made out. 

My friends came on board, and I sent the Lake- 
bird back by Ben Bowman, who was to act as 
assistant-engineer and deck-hand. We went into 
the pilot-house to talk over the details of the pro- 


122 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


posed cruise. I was, of course, to be the captain 
of the craft ; but the others wanted some regular 
duty assigned to them. 

“We can’t all be officers,” I said laughing; for 
I feared they might have some hard feeling if I 
gave one a higher place than the others. 

“We don’t all want to be officers,” replied Bob ; 
“ at least, I don’t want to be one.” 

“Nor I,” added Ellie. 

“ Of course I don’t ask for any such position,” 
followed Lynch. “I am glad enough of the 
chance to go, even as cook’s assistant.” 

“We want a mate and two deck-hands to make 
the thing all regular,” I added ; but I was still 
bothered to know who should be the mate. 

“We will leave that all to you, Captain Alick ; 
and we will all agree to do just what we are told,” 
protested Bob. 

The others assented to this proposition ; but I 
was still unwilling to place one of them over the 
others. While we were talking about it, Moses 
came in to say that a steamer was close by, 
headed for Glinten River. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


123 


CHAPTER XII. 


A STARTLING DISCOVERY. 

HE looks just like the Sylvania ! ” exclaimed 



^ Moses Brickland, when he brought the in- 
formation in regard to the approaching steamer. 

“ Where is she from ? ” I inquired. 

“ She is coming up from the southward ; and I 
think she is from Detroit,” replied Moses. 

I knew of no steamer that had any business up 
Glinten River, and my curiosity was excited. I 
hastened on deck, and found that the engineer 
had not overstated the truth. The approaching 
steamer was as near like the Sylvania as one pea 
is like another. I had heard of another steamer 
of which the Sylvania was the counterpart ; but 
I had never seen her. She was said to be owned 
by a gentleman who lived on an island in Lake 
Erie ; and I thought it strange that she had never 
been up into Lake St. Clair during the years I 
had lived at Montomercy. The Sylvania had 


124 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


been built after the other, and it was affirmed that 
she was an improvement in some respects upon 
her twin sister, though the outward resemblance 
had not been destroyed. 

“ She looks exactly like us ! ” exclaimed Bob 
Washburn. “ I think she must have been cast in 
the same mould.” 

“ I have heard something about her, but I never 
saw her before,” I added. “ She is exactly our 
style ; and we couldn’t tell one vessel from the 
other in a fog.” 

“ Hardly in a clear day,” said Elbe, who was 
carefully examining the beautiful craft, as she 
shot by the Sylvania. 

“Don’t you know about that steamer?” asked 
Lynch Braceback, after we had looked at her a 
while. 

None of us knew any thing about her except 
what I have already stated. 

“ I know all about her,” added Lynch. “ My 
father is to sail her this summer.” 

“ What is her name ? ” inquired Ellie. 

“ She is called the Islander ; and her owner is 
Col. Ingersoll, a very wealthy gentleman from 
Cincinnati, who lives on an island he owns in 
Lake Erie.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


125 


“ What is she doing up Glinten River ? ” I 
asked, as the steamer ran into the stream. 

“ She has been fixed up this spring ; and I sup- 
pose father has gone up to the house to get his 
clothes, and perhaps to show off the steamer to 
the people of Montom ercy. They say she is 
faster than the Sylvania.” 

“ Who says so ? ” I asked, with no little inter- 
est; for I had heard that just the opposite was 
the fact. 

“ Father says so, for one ; but I don’t know any 
thing about it, except what he says,” replied 
Lynch. 

“ How long will she remain at Montomercy ? ” 
asked Bob Washburn. 

“Not long: father went down to take charge 
of her only yesterday morning.” 

“ I should think he would want you to go with 
him,” suggested Elbe. 

“ That is the very thing he don’t want ; for he 
would never let me go with him in the Sylvania 
when he was her sailing-master. Besides, I would 
rather go with our fellows, than with the crowd 
they will have in the Islander,” answered Lynch. 

Of course we were all duly flattered by the 


126 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


compliment he paid to his companions. The 
steamer had disappeared beyond the banks of the 
river, and we returned to the pilot-house to dis- 
cuss the interesting question which had occupied 
our attention when we were interrupted. So far 
as I could see, any one of my friends was as well 
qualified to be the mate of the steamer as either 
of the others. I rather preferred Ellie, perhaps 
for the reason that I had known him longer. 
They insisted that I should make the selection 
myself, without regard to their wishes, and give 
the place to the one I considered the most compe- 
tent. 

“ I do not know that one is any more compe- 
tent than the others,” I replied. 

“ Then I will tell you how we can settle the 
question,” said Ellie, laughing. “ Let us draw 
lots for the place, just as we have always settled 
difficult questions.” 

“That’s the idea!” exclaimed Bob. “We 
don’t want Captain Alick to feel that we are jeal- 
ous of each other, or that any fellow will not be 
satisfied if he is not the mate of the Sylvania.” 

I was pleased with the suggestion ; and I took 
three matches from the safe, and, breaking them 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 


127 


off at unequal lengths, I placed them between my 
thumb and finger so that they could see only the 
ends. 

“ The one that draws the longest stick shall be 
the mate of the Syl vania,” I continued. 

“ That’s fair ! ” exclaimed Ellie. 44 1 don’t think 
any one of us is inclined to break things if he 
don’t get the position of mate.” 

44 Certainly not , but Captain Alick don’t feel 
like deciding this question, and the lot will re- 
lieve him of the necessity of doing so. I am sure 
we shall all be satisfied with the result,” added 
Bob Washburn. 

44 Of course we shall,” said Lynch heartily. 

44 Then draw ; and I don’t think either of you 
can tell by the looks of the ends of these matches 
which is the longest one,” I continued, as I held 
out the sticks to Ellie. 

He drew one, Bob drew another, and Lynch 
took the last. They then laid the sticks on the 
table ; and it was found that Lynch Braceback 
had drawn the longest. I was very sorry the lot 
had resulted in this way; but I could raise no 
objection to it. My lucky companion was as well 
qualified for the position as either of the others, 


128 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


though personally he was not as satisfactory to me 
as either Bob or Ellie would have been. 

“ That question is settled,” said Bob, laughing ; 
and he was a fellow so unselfish, that I don’t be- 
lieve he was at all disappointed. 

“And nothing more need be said about it,” 
added Ellie. “ I congratulate you, Lynch.” 

“ But I shall not take the position,” protested 
the new mate. “ I don’t think I am entitled to 
it.” 

“ You are as much entitled to it as any othe* 
fellow ; and I, for one, don’t believe in going be- 
hind the lot.” 

“ But I won’t take it : it wouldn’t be right for 
me to do so,” persisted Lynch. “lama sort of 
guest of Captain Alick; and I am sure I am 
very much obliged to him for letting me go on 
the cruise, without taking the softest place on 
board.” 

“We are all sort of guests,” laughed Ellie. “I 
am sure I don’t claim any rights on board of this 
craft ; and I think Lynch has as good a right to 
the position as any other fellow : so we won’t say 
any thing more about it.” 

“ As we all agreed to the lot, we ought to be 


THE CftUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


129 


bound by its decision,” added Bob, as he and 
Ellie walked out of the pilot-house, as if for the 
purpose of ending the discussion. 

“ I don’t feel a bit like taking this place,” said 
Lynch, as if he were appealing to me from the 
decision of his companions. “ I know that Bob 
and Ellie don’t want me to be mate.” 

“ They don’t say so,” I replied. 

“ Of course they will not say so.” 

“We all agreed to the lot; and they are not 
the fellows to go back on any thing to which they 
have agreed.” 

“ But I would rather be a foremast hand than 
to have them angry and jealous' of me. I didn’t 
expect the position, and I shall be just as well 
satisfied if one of them has the place.” 

“They will not be angry or jealous. You 
needn’t disturb yourself about that. But we 
have to go up the river, and we won’t talk any 
more about it now,” I continued, leading the way 
out of the pilot-house. “ You will see to getting 
the anchor up, Mr. Lynch.” 

“Mr. Lynch!” shouted the mate. “You are 
beginning to make fun of me already.” 

“Not at all,” I protested. “The mate of a 


130 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


vessel is always called Mr. ; and it is no more 
making game of him to call him so than it is to 
address the commander as captain.” 

Lynch Braceback looked a little suspicious as 
he called all hands to get up the anchor. My 
friends had been with me enough in the Sylvania 
to be thoroughly acquainted with their duties; 
and at the call of the mate they took their stations 
at the windlass. The machinery was of the most 
approved pattern, and the anchor was easily raised 
from the sand at the bottom by the mate and his 
companions. Moses Brickland had steam up, and 
was at the engine. 

“ Anchor’s a-weigh, sir ! ” cried the mate, when 
the iron was clear of the bottom. 

I rang one bell, to go ahead slowly, and the 
Sylvania began to move. The mate got the 
anchor up to the cat-head, and stowed it, for we 
had no use for it at the landing-place up the 
river. Our provisions and stores were all on the 
wharf, near Mr. Brickland’s house. My com- 
panions did not come near me again on the trip 
up to the town. I saw that they were talking 
together on the forecastle ; and, as Lynch seemed 
to do most of the talking, I concluded that he was 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


131 


still protesting against the decision of the lot. I 
was willing to let my friends settle the matter 
among themselves. 

At last Ellie and Bob seemed to be tired of the 
discussion ; and both of them became rather en- 
ergetic in their manner. Finally they left the 
mate alone on the forecastle, retreating to the 
pilot-house to escape further words. In half an 
hour we were in sight of the town ; and I saw 
that the Islander had made a landing at Mr. 
Brickland’s wharf. The water was rather shoal 
in some places above, and I concluded that Cap- 
tain Braceback was afraid of getting aground if 
he went farther up. But he had run his craft up 
to the end of the pier, so that there was room 
enough for me to place the Sylvania in her usual 
position alongside. 

I saw that Mr. Brickland was on the wharf; 
and I concluded that he had given his permission 
for the Islander to take in her stores there, if she 
had any to take in, and to remain there while the 
commander visited his family, which was doubtless 
the object of his visit. As soon as we had made 
the steamer fast to the wharf, Lynch asked per- 
mission to go home and see his father and mother 


132 


LAKE BREEZES; OB, 


before he sailed on the cruise, which was likely to 
be continued for the next two months. Of course 
I had no objection to so reasonable a request. 
For the next two hours we were all busy in 
getting our provisions on board. 

All the Brickland family were gathered on the 
wharf or on board of the Sylvania to see the op- 
eration of taking in cargo. The house was quite 
deserted. Before eleven o’clock every thing was 
in readiness for a start. We had taken in our 
beef, pork, vegetables, and ice, and stowed them 
all away in the proper places. When the work 
had been satisfactorily completed, I went up to 
the house to get my best clothes, for I thought I 
might want to go to church in some of the 
places where we stopped. 

On my way up to the house I met Lynch and 
his father on their return to the wharf. Captain 
Braceback did not speak to me, or even nod at 
me, as he had not since his residence in Monto- 
mercy. But Lynch stopped to ask me if all was 
ready. He had several bundles in his hands; 
and I could not help noticing that he was some- 
what embarrassed about something. I concluded 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


133 


that it was the chilly conduct of his father that 
troubled him ; and I continued on my way. 

I went down cellar to see that the hidden treas- 
ure was safe. It was gone ! 


134 


LAKE BREEZES ) OR] 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SPOTS UPON THE MATE. 

T SUPPOSE I went down cellar for the same 
reason that I had done so a hundred times 
since the hidden treasure was deposited there. I 
had always found it right before ; and I expected 
to find it right this time. The barrels of vegeta- 
bles had stood on the brick pavement over the spot 
where the valuables were concealed ; and I had 
intended to go only far enough to satisfy myself 
that they had not been disturbed. But, as soon 
as I had descended the stairs far enough to obtain 
a view of the interior of the cellar, I saw at once 
that the barrels had been moved. 

My heart leaped up into my throat. I suddenly 
felt that earthly treasures may take to themselves 
wings, and fly away. Though my father was an 
English nobleman, and a very wealthy man, I had 
placed my main dependence upon the securities 
which had been concealed in the cellar of Mr. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 


185 


Brickland’s house. I had them', and I had noth- 
ing else, whatever the future might bring to me. 
It was very strange that I had not heard from my 
father for so long a time ; and this fact seemed to 
detach me more than ever from whatever posses- 
sions and prospects I might have on the other side 
of the ocean. 

I rushed to the spot, and found that the barrels 
had been hastily tumbled .out of the way ; the 
brick pavement had been taken up, and a hole dug 
in the spot where the treasure had been hidden. 
It was evident that the robbers, whoever they 
were, had not known the precise locality of the 
package ; for a hole much larger than the one we 
had made when we concealed it had been dug. 
The person or persons engaged in the robbery had 
removed the earth till they found the treasure. 
They had found it, and it was gone. 

I felt like “ a poor boy ” again. All that I had 
on earth had been taken from me ; for I did not 
count much on what was in England, especially 
after I learned that other heirs were fighting for 
it. I now looked about me in the cellar to see if 
I could find any thing that would throw any light 
upon the identity of the robbers. I discovered 


136 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


the oil-cloth in which the treasure had been envel- 
oped. It was covered with the soft mud of the 
cellar, and had evidently been removed because 
it was in such a dirty condition. I could find 
nothing else to connect the disappearance of the 
treasure with any human being. 

As I said before, I felt like a poor boy again. 
Indeed, the finding of my father, and the fortune 
which had fallen to me, were like a dream of 
the past ; and the startling discovery I had just 
made seemed to render it more unsubstantial than 
ever before. I came to the conclusion, before I 
left the cellar, that I was really a poor boy, though 
I had the steamer, which was nothing but an ele- 
phant on my hands without the means to pay her 
running expenses. For a short time I was almost 
distracted ; but I gathered up my emotions, and 
determined to “ keep cool ” about the catastrophe. 

I wanted to see Mr. Brickland, and I hastened 
out of the cellar. I did not expect him or any of 
the family to return to the house, as they would 
be likely to remain on the wharf till the steamer 
had started. In the yard I saw Dick Blister, whom 
I had sent to the post-office as soon as I came up 
to the wharf. He had gone with the horse and 


THE CRTJISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


137 


wagon ; and for the last ten or fifteen minutes 
he must have been at the stable, taking care of 
the team. 

“ How long have you been here, Dick? ” I asked, 
as I met him in the yard. 

“ I came back from the post-office about fifteen 
minutes ago. Here is something for you, Alick,” he 
replied, handing me the letter, which was not di- 
rected in the handwriting of my father, from whom 
I had not heard a word for over four months. 

But I was too much excited at that moment, 
even to read a letter from my father. I put it 
into my pocket with the feeling that whatever was 
done to recover the valuable package must be done 
at once. 

“ Where have you been since you came back ? ” 
I inquired. 

“About the yard here,” replied Dick, with a 
grin. “ When I took the horse out of the wagon, 
he got away from me ; and I don’t think that I 
should have caught him to-day if it hadn’t been 
for Lynch Braceback.” 

“ Then you did catch him ? ” 

“ Of course I did. Lynch was sitting on the 
fence near the end of the house. He headed him 


138 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


off so that I caught him without much trouble. 
When that horse gets loose, it takes about ten 
men to catch him, for I have tried it on before.” 

“ What was Lynch doing here ? ” I asked, ap- 
proaching the subject very carefully. 

“ He said he was waiting for his father.” 

“ Did you see his father when he came ? ” 

“No: I was in the stable, I suppose; at any 
rate, when I came out, I saw Lynch and his father 
walking down the road to the wharf.” 

“Did you mind which way his father came 
from ? ” 

“No, I did not. I didn’t see him at all till I 
came out of the stable; and then he was some 
ways below the house.” 

“ Have you seen anybody else about the house 
to-day, Dick ? ” I asked, feeling that I had got no 
clew so far. 

“ Not a soul.” 

“ Did you meet any one when you came down 
from the village ? ” 

“Not a soul. What is the matter? What do 
you ask these questions for, Alick ? ” asked Dick, 
who saw that something was the matter, hard as I 
tried to conceal what was in my thoughts. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


139 


“ Never mind now. I want to know if anybody 
has been about here the last hour.” 

“ I haven’t seen anybody but Captain Braceback 
and his son ; and I don’t believe anybody else has 
been near the house to-day. I wasn’t gone more 
than twenty minutes from the house ; and if any- 
body had been here I should have met them on the 
way back,” replied Dick very seriously; and he 
could not help seeing that I was very much 
troubled. 

I told Dick to run down to the wharf, and ask 
Mr. Brickland to come up to the house as quick 
as possible. While he was gone I went into the 
cellar again. As I looked at the hole in the soft 
mud, I thought all this work could not have been 
done without some sort of tools. The earth was 
a sort of yellow clay which was not seen near the 
surface of the ground ; and, when it touched any 
thing, it usually left its marks. I was sure I could 
tell the shovel that had been used, by the color of 
this clay upon it. 

I looked about the cellar; but there was no 
implement of any kind to be found there. It was 
a warm spring day, and the windows of the cellar 
had been opened to air the place ; for Mrs. Brick* 


140 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


land was very particular to keep it “sweet,” as 
she called it. 

I went out doors again, and found a shovel and 
a hoe, which had evidently been thrown out at 
one of these windows; not only the blades, but 
the handles of these implements, were daubed with 
the yellow clay. Those who had dug up the 
treasure had plainly used 'their hands as well as 
the tools I had found, which I recognized as those 
belonging to the stable. 

By the time I had examined the shovel and the 
hoe, Mr. Brickland joined me. The urgency of 
the message I had sent him caused him to hasten 
to the house with all the speed he could make. 
In as few words as possible, I told him what had 
happened, and led the way to the cellar, that he 
might verify my statement by looking into the 
hole the robbers had dug. 

My good guardian and friend was utterly 
bewildered by the announcement. He gazed into 
the hole in the cellar-bottom like one who had lost 
his wits. He said hardly a word ; and what he 
did say did not amount to any thing. Possibly 
he understood the situation as I had figured it out, 
and concluded that the robbery made a poor boy 
of me again. 


THE CRUISE OF THE S YU VANIA. 


141 


By this time I had fully recovered my self- 
possession ; and possibly the bewilderment of my 
guardian helped me to regain the use of my facul- 
ties. I told him that in my opinion the robbery 
had been committed within the last half-hour ; for 
Dick would have seen the men who did the job 
before that time, as he was at work in the stable- 
yard, in plain sight of the end of the house, where 
the robbers doubtless entered the cellar, for I 
found that the outer door was unfastened. 

“ Who did it ? ” demanded Mr. Brickland, when 
he had in some measure recovered from his bewil- 
derment. 

“ That’s the question,” I replied. 

“The folks haven’t been down to the wharf 
more than an hour, and we left Dick here to see 
to things.” 

“ I sent him to the post-office ; and the work 
was done while he was gone,” I continued. 

“Well, what’s to be done? Shall I go up and 
tell the sheriff about it, and have him go to work 
on the case ? ” asked Mr. Brickland. 

“ I hardly know what to do. The robbers 
could not have got back to the village without 
Dick’s seeing them when he came back from the 


142 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


post-office. I am inclined to believe they have 
moved down the river towards the lake, and that 
they will go to Detroit in a boat. Whoever did the 
job must be pretty well plastered with that yellow 
mud from the bottom of the cellar,” I continued, 
musing upon the situation rather than expressing 
my deliberate convictions. “But Dick said that 
Lynch Braceback was here when he came back 
from the post-office, and helped him catch the horse 
when he got away from him. I mu^t see Lynch 
at once, for he will know something about the 
matter.” 

I wondered that I had not thought of it before ; 
but, as I was sure to see Lynch when I went on 
board of the Syl vania, I suppose I was looking 
out for persons who might not be so easily found 
when wanted. I led the way at a rapid rate 
towards the wharf, — so rapid that my guardian 
could not keep up with me. As I passed around 
the corner of the house, I saw the Islander back- 
ing out from the wharf. I got into the road to 
the wharf, and broke into a run ; but before I 
could reach the wharf I saw the steamer under 
full steam, going down the river. I could not 
stop her, even were it desirable to do so. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


143 


When I came to the wharf, the Islander was 
out of hailing distance ; but, as I had no business 
with her, I did not trouble myself with this 
matter. Lynch Braceback stood on the wharf, 
watching the receding steamer which contained 
his father. I walked up to him before he saw 
me. 

“Where is the Islander going, Braceback?” I 
asked. 

Lynch turned short round, and looked at me, 
instead of answering my question. 

“ I didn’t know you were here, Captain Alick,” 
said he, stammering out the words as though he 
had been frightened at my sudden appearance. 
“ You startled me so that I have lost a year’s 
growth.” 

“ I didn’t know you were so easily frightened, 
Mr. Braceback,” I replied, rather astonished at 
his manner. 

“ Of course I am not frightened : I was only 
startled. It always made me jump when any one 
spoke to me suddenly.” 

“ I asked you where the Islander was going,” I 
repeated. 

“ I beg your pardon, captain : so you did ; and 


144 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


I was so startled that I did not answer you,” 
replied Lynch, turning towards me. 

For the first time I noticed that his hands and 
his clothes were daubed with yellow mud ! 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


145 


CHAPTER XIV. 

PREPARING FOR THE CHASE. 

T COULD not possibly mistake the color of the 
yellow mud I saw upon the garments of Lynch 
Braceback. Mr. Brickland’s house was built on a 
slight elevation of land ; and the yellow clay ap- 
peared at about four feet below the surface. I 
knew of no other place in the vicinity where the 
stratum was to be found. I had seen it only when 
the cellar and the well were dug until we dug 
into the bottom of the cellar to conceal the 
treasure. 

The fact that Dick Blister had seen Lynch seat- 
ed on the fence when he returned from the post- 
office came to my mind in this connection ; and I 
was at once forced to the conclusion that Lynch 
had assisted in digging up the valuable package. 
He and his father had been loaded with bundles 
when I met them as I went up to the house. I 
had no doubt that the treasure was in the posses- 
sion of one of them. 


146 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


I wonder now that I did not at once charge 
Lynch with the robbery ; but I did not. In fact, I 
was so astounded when I discovered the mud on 
his clothes, that I turned away from him. His 
embarrassed manner when I met him, and his sud- 
den start when I spoke to him on the wharf, 
seemed to be a part of the evidence against him. 
Then it occurred to me that I had seen Lynch as 
I came out of the cellar after my guardian and I 
had buried the treasure. The conclusion was irre- 
sistible, that he had discovered what we were 
doing in the cellar on that occasion. As I did not 
care to talk any more with the mate of the Sylva- 
nia until I had made up my mind what course to 
pursue, I told Lynch that I would return in a 
short time, and walked towards the house again. 

Lynch had been with his father when I met 
him ; and it seemed to follow as a natural conse- 
quence, that Captain Braceback was concerned in 
the robbery. As I thought of the matter, I was 
even willing to believe that he was the prime 
mover in the affair. I knew that he hated me 
with all the venom of his malignant nature. In 
spite of my intimacy with his son, he had never 
“let up” in the slightest degree, and had not 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


147 


bestowed a single pleasant word upon me during 
his residence in Montomercy. 

“ Have you got at any thing, Alick ? ” asked Mr. 
Brickland, as I met him on his way to the wharf, 
even more excited than when I had left him. 

“ I think I have found out all about it,” I re- 
plied, seating myself in an arbor near the path 
where we met. 

“ You don’t say so ! what have you found out? * 
demanded my guardian, with breathless interest. 

I told him what I had discovered, and stated 
my conclusions in full. He agreed with me that 
there was no place in the vicinity where the yel* 
low clay was to be found ; and he made no objec- 
tion to the argument by which I fastened the guilt 
upon Lynch and his father. He stood with his 
mouth and his eyes wide open till I had finished 
my process of reasoning, and repeated my conclu- 
sions. 

“ It looks as though you had hit it about right, 
Alick,” said Mr. Brickland, when I had concluded 
my argument. “ I didn’t think Captain Braceback 
was that sort of a man. You have always said 
that he hated you like poison.” 

“ But I don’t believe he stole the package be* 


148 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


cause he hated me, or at least not for that reason 
alone, but because he wanted the money. He is 
a poor man now,” I continued. 

“ But he has a job now to sail this steam-yacht 
for the season,” added Mr. Brickland. 

“ And the first use he makes of her is in run- 
ning off with the package.” 

“ As I look back, it all seems plain enough now. 
He found out about this package before he was 
the watchman at the bank. I am inclined to think 
he wanted this place so as to help him in getting 
hold of it. But how could he know that it was 
buried in the cellar ? ” 

“ I begin to see a great many things that I did 
not understand before,” I replied, recalling the 
events of the past. “ It is plain enough to me 
that Lynch Braceback has been watching me, or 
was doing so at the time we concealed the pack- 
age. I remember now, that, when I came from 
the cellar after we had finished the job, I met 
Lynch. He came out from behind that bush ; ” 
and I pointed to the one from whose shade I had 
seen him come out on the evening we hid the 
package. 

“ Why didn’t you tell me this ? ” asked Mr. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


149 


Brickland. “ If I had known it, I should have dug 
up the bundle, and put it in some other place. It 
is plain enough now that Lynch and his father 
have been working up this matter for months.” 

“Lynch has been one of my most intimate 
friends for months ; and I had no reason to sup- 
pose he was spying out what I was doing,” I 
pleaded. “But he told me he had just come from 
home. He said he was going to the front door to 
ring the bell when he saw me.” 

“I have no doubt that steamer came up here 
on purpose to carry off that package ! ” exclaimed 
my guardian, as he glanced down the river as if to 
get a sight of the Islander. “ But it is time some- 
thing was done.” 

“I think so myself; but it is better to go to 
work right, if we are an hour or two behind the 
other boat,” I added. 

“Don’t you think we had better have Lynch 
arrested at once?” asked Mr. Brickland nervously. 

“ No, I don’t : I think we had better not say a 
word about the matter to any one. I will follow 
the Islander if she goes to the end of the world,’ 
I replied, rising from my seat. “ I have no doubt 
that package is on board of her. But, whatever 


150 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


we may believe, we have no evidence of any thing. 
The only thing to do now is to follow the Island- 
er ; and that I shall do. If I don’t recover that 
package, I have no business in a steam-yacht ; for 
I shall be a poor boy, as I was when I first came 
to Montomercy.” 

“ You can never be as poor as you were then 
while I have any thing, Alick,” added my guard- 
ian with earnestness. “Shall I go with you in 
the steamer ? ” 

“ No, sir : I think you had better stay here. As 
the matter stands now, Lynch don’t know I sus- 
pect that he had any thing to do with the rob 
bery, even if he knows that we have discovered 
the loss; and I think I can find out more by 
watching him than I can in any other way. I 
have not much doubt that Captain Braceback 
intends to take those stocks and bonds into Cana- 
da, and get rid of them as soon as possible. I 
shall follow him; and that is all I can do at 
present.” 

“But you need an officer to go with you,” 
suggested Mr. Brickland. 

“ Not at all. I have no doubt Captain Brace- 
back would throw the package into the lake, or 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 151 

burn it in the furnaces of the Islander, rather than 
have his villany discovered. Revenge is his first 
object, and profit his second; and, if he can’t 
have both, he will satisfy himself with one.” 

“ I wish your father was here,” mused my 
guardian. 

“ So do I ; but, as he is not here, we must do the 
best we can without him. But it is time for me 
to be off. We have yet to prove whether the 
Islander or the Sylvania is the faster vessel.” 

“ Don’t blow her up, or any thing of that sort,” 
added Mr. Brickland. 

“ Moses is a safe engineer ; and I don’t believe 
he will allow any harm to come to the Sylvania,” 
I replied, as I hurried into the house for my 
clothes. 

I was disposed to be excited ; but I used my 
best efforts to keep cool. I could hardly think of 
treating Lynch Braceback like a friend after the 
event of the morning, though I could not do 
otherwise and carry out the plan I had formed. I 
hastened down to the wharf, followed by my guar- 
dian. The Islander was out of sight beyond the 
bends of the river, and was probably out in the 
lake by this time. When I reached the river I 


152 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


found Lynch still on the wharf, walking up and 
down as though he were engaged in meditation. I 
thought he had enough to think about. 

“We are all ready for a start, Lynch,” I said 
as pleasantly as I could ; but it required an effort 
for me to do so. 

He followed me on board, after I had shaken 
hands with Mr. Brickland and bidden an affection- 
ate adieu to the other members of the family. 

“All hands on deck ! ” shouted the new mate. 

All hands consisted of Ellie Dykeman, Bob 
Washburn, and Ben Bowman; and they appeared 
promptly at the call. A colored man whom we 
all called “ Gopher ” was the cook and steward ; 
but he was busy at the galley, and was not expect- 
ed to answer the summons, unless in case of an 
emergency. Professor Buckminster was in his 
state-room, attending to the duties of his position 
in reading some written exercises handed to him 
in the morning. 

I went into the pilot-house, and took my station 
at the wheel. I gave the mate the order to cast 
off the fast forward, and then I backed her against 
the stern-line to throw her head off from the 
wharf. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


158 


“ Haul in your stern-line ! ” I continued, when 
I had her bow pointed out from the wharf. 

Mr. Brickland cast off the line, and the deck 
hands hauled it in. As the river was not wide 
enough for me to come about with the helm alone, 
I backed and went ahead until I had her pointed 
in the right direction. 

“ Give her all the steam you can ! ” I called to 
Moses Brickland, in the engine-room, through the 
speaking-tube. 

“All right,” replied Moses ; and I thought he 
must be a little surprised at this order, as we were 
apparently bound on a pleasure-trip, with no oc- 
casion to hurry. 

I did not see how it would be possible for me 
to manage the business on my hands without tell- 
ing my friends on board the nature of the mission 
of the Syl vania. We had agreed to stop at cer- 
tain places ; and it would be necessary for me to 
explain why the programme was not carried out. 
I had no idea where the Islander would lead me ; 
and the course could only be determined after we 
reached the lake, and saw the chase. We had 
intended to go to the upper lakes, into Lake Su- 
perior, following the northern shore to Duluth and 


154 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


returning by the south shore. After this, if we 
did not spend too much time in hunting and fish* 
ing on the north shore, which was said to be the 
paradise of sportsmen, the plan was to visit Chi- 
cago, making the entire circuit of the Lake Mich- 
igan. We had two months before us, which 
appeared to be time enough to do all we had 
planned. 

In half an hour we reached the mouth of Glin- 
ten River, and I looked in every direction for the 
Islander ; but I could see nothing of her. I con- 
fidently anticipated that I should see her stand- 
ing over to the flats, or headed south for Detroit 
River. In fact, there was no other course for her 
to take, unless she went in among the shoals, and 
crawled into some creek. But we were not yet 
out of the river, though I could have seen the Is- 
lander if she had gone in either of the expected 
directions. She might be concealed from my view 
by the headlands on either side of the river ; and 
I expected to discover her as soon as the Sylva- 
uia was fairly out in the lake. 

In a few minutes more we were clear of the 
river ; but the Islander was not to be seen in any 
direction. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


155 


CHAPTER XV. 

BEYOND POINT HURON. 

“~\TTHERE is your father going in the Islander, 
* * Lynch?” I asked, when we were out in 
the lake, and he appeared to be looking in 
every direction, as I was. 

“ I’m sure I don’t know,” replied Lynch ; and 
his face was as blank as though he was as 
much bewildered as the rest of us. 

“ Didn’t he tell you where he was bound ? ” 
“He didn’t say a word to me about it; but 
I supposed he was going down to Lake Erie. 
It didn’t occur to me that he was going any- 
where else; and I asked no questions. He is 
out to try the steam-yacht; and I dare say it 
don’t make any difference where he goes.” 

I could not determine in my own mind whether 
Lynch was lying or not. I had no doubt that 
the treasure was on board of the Islander. The 
fact of her sudden disappearance confirmed my 


156 


LAKE BREEZES J OR, 


theory, adopted before I left the house of my 
guardian. Captain Braceback had a strong mo- 
tive for getting out of my way. Thus far he 
could not know, or even have any good reason 
to suspect, that I had discovered the loss of 
the hidden package. Doubtless he had counted 
on the hurry and confusion of my departure on 
the extended excursion to obtain the treasure ; 
and he could hardly have expected me to make 
an examination of the cellar at such an exciting 
time. 

One mile north of the river was a point of 
land, and two miles south was another, behind 
either of which the Islander might be concealed. 
She had had time enough to conceal herself 
beyond either of them. The water was shallow 
in both directions ; but Captain Braceback was 
a skilful pilot, and knew all the intricate chan- 
nels of the lake. I was satisfied that the steam- 
er was behind one or the other of these points, 
and the ’question was to determine which one. 
The navigation was rather better to the south- 
ward than in the opposite direction. I concluded 
that Captain Braceback intended to go through 
Detroit River as soon as he had shaken off the 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


157 


Syl vania ; and was therefore more likely to have 
hidden himself around the south than the north 
point. 

Though I was well posted in regard to the 
navigation of these waters, I was not willing to 
take the risk of running as near the shore as 
the Islander must have gone. To get aground 
in the lake, where there are no tides, was to 
lose the battle in the beginning. About a mile 
out from the mouth of the river, I threw over 
the wheel, and headed her a little east of south 
for Point Huron buoy. 

“Where are we bound, Captain Alick?” asked 
Lynch, who was standing on the forecastle, still 
looking in various directions by turns for the 
Islander. 

“ To the south south-east just now,” I replied, 
with as much indifference as I could assume. 

“ But what are you going to do down here ? ” 
demanded the mate, evidently a little excited by 
the course of the Sylvania. 

“ I want to make an observation before we head 
her for the St. Clair River.” 

“Where are we going now?” asked Ellie, as 
he and Bob Washburn came into the pilot-house. 


158 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“I want to take a look behind that point,” I 
replied, indicating the direction by a nod of the 
head. 

“What’s up?” inquired Bob, who could not 
help seeing that I was acting with a motive. 

“ Never mind : don’t ask any thing more about 
it now, and I will tell you what I mean at some 
other time. Don’t say a word to Lynch about it,” 
I added in a low tone, so that the mate could not 
hear what I said. 

“ All right,” answered Elbe, as he led the way 
out of the pilot-house. 

“What are we doing down here?” asked 
Lynch of them, in a rather petulant tone, as they 
appeared on the forecastle. 

“I’m sure I don’t know,” said Ellie. “You 
must ask Captain Alick: I suppose he knows 
what he is about.” 

Lynch glanced at me, and said no more; but 
I could see that he was vexed at the course of 
the vessel. I made up my mind that he knew 
the Islander was concealed behind Point Huron, 
though it was very easy to be mistaken. He and 
his father had expected me to stand over to the 
St. Clair River ; and, as soon as I was fairly out of 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVAN7A. 


159 


sight, he intended to run down to Windsor, oppo- 
site Detroit, and from that point proceed to some 
large city in Canada or the United States to dis- 
pose of the bonds and other securities, most of 
which had a cash value in the market. He could 
certainly realize a hundred thousand dollars from 
the treasure. It was not at all likely that he 
intended to return and command the Islander 
during the summer season. It was more probable 
that he would proceed to Montreal, and take a 
steamer of the Allen line for England. 

I rather congratulated myself that I had 
“ smoked out ” his plan, and that I should defeat 
its execution. Captain Braceback might succeed 
in landing at Windsor, or some other port on the 
British side; but if he did I would follow him, 
even if he went across the Atlantic. I believed 
just then that I was a very shrewd young man ; 
and boys of my age are apt to be a little con- 
ceited. 

I watched every look and every movement of 
the mate of the Sylvania ; but I had no fear of 
any thing he might do as long as he remained on 
deck. Yet it was perfectly evident to me that he 
was on board of this steamer for a purpose. 


160 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


While I acted for my own interest, he was in the 
service of his father, whose object it was to pre- 
vent me from pursuing, or at least from overtak- 
ing, the Islander. I had no doubt Lynch would 
run the steamer aground, derange her machinery, 
or do any thing else that would disable her. It 
was necessary to watch him all the time ; for as 
mate he had the power to ruin all my hopes. 
While I was thinking about the situation, Lynch 
walked aft. I called Ellie to the wheel, and fol- 
lowed the mate. 

I found Lynch on the quarter-deck. He was 
evidently very nervous about the situation; and 
my following him did not quiet his agitation. 
He wanted to do something ; and it was possible 
that he had gone aft to derange the steering ap- 
paratus, or for some similar purpose. Whatever 
his object, my appearance prevented him from car- 
rying it out. 

“It seems to me, Captain Alick, that you are 
taking a very strange course in order to reach the 
upper lakes,” said Lynch, after he had fidgeted 
about the deck for some time. 

“We are in no hurry: we have two months 
before us,” I replied rather carelessly. “We may 
go through the cut channel.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLYANIA. 


161 


“ But you are headed for the south-west corner 
of the lake ; and you are altogether out of the 
way for the channel,” added Lynch nervously, as 
he gazed earnestly in the direction of Point 
Huron. 

“ I know ; but it will not take long to run over 
to the channel if we conclude to go up that 
way.” 

I had nothing particular to say, and no explana- 
tions to make. I wanted an opportunity to talk 
over the situation with Ellie and Bob ; and by 
this time I had come to the conclusion that it 
would be necessary for me to take into my confi- 
dence all on board except Lynch Braceback, and 
possibly Ben Bowman and the cook. I was sure I 
could trust them, and that every one of them 
would be devoted to my interest. Until I had in- 
formed my friends of the situation, I should be 
obliged to watch the mate myself; and at thia 
moment I had to follow him wherever he went 
to prevent him from doing any mischief. 

In a short time the Sylvania was abreast of 
Point Huron, and I wanted to be forward where 
I could better examine the shore beyond it ; but I 
could not take my eye off the mate, for he might 


162 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


go below when my eye was removed from him, and 
disable the steamer in five minutes’ time. On the 
other hand, I could not explain the situation to 
my friends in his presence, for I did not wish him 
to know that I suspected the nature of the mis- 
sion of the Islander to Glinten River. I expected 
that the words and actions of Lynch would reveal 
something more of the plans and intentions of his 
father. 

“ What are you going to do in here, any way ? ” 
asked the mate, after he had fidgeted a while 
longer, and I had amused myself as best I could 
without exciting his suspicion. 

“ I am only going to take a look in beyond the 
point,” I answered. “ I don’t know that it makes 
any particular difference where we go : do you 
think it does ? ” 

“ Of course it don’t ; but, when the fellows un- 
derstand that they are going to the upper lakes, 
they want to be on the way there. We are in a 
hurry to see Lake Superior; and we don’t want 
to be fooling around here where every thing is as 
familiar to us as it is up Glinten River. I don’t 
see how we can help being impatient to see the 
parts of the lakes we have never visited,” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


163 


“Are the rest of the fellows impatient to be 
off?” I asked. 

“ 1 haven’t heard them say any thing ; but I 
have no doubt they have the same feeling I 
have.” 

“We will go forward, and see about it. If 
they are in a hurry, we will see what we can do 
to hasten the matter.” 

Lynch followed me, for the reason that he could 
not well avoid doing so. We went to the pilot- 
house. 

“ Ellie, Lynch thinks the fellows are impatient 
to be on the way to the upper lakes,” I began, 
laughing rather to conceal my anxiety than be- 
cause there was any thing funny about the ques- 
tion. “ How do you feel about it ? ” 

“ Oh ! I am perfectly satisfied to do any thing 
the captain of the Sylvania thinks best,” replied 
the wheelman. 

“ Of course he is in no hurry, as long as he has 
the wheel. He has something to do and to think 
about.” 

“ That’s the idea, is it ? ” I exclaimed. “ Then 
we can put you out of misery in a very short 
space of period,” I added, laughing ; and the 


164 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


thought that came into my mind amused me so 
that I wondered it had not come to me before. 

44 I’m not in misery,” answered Lynch, with a 
rather sickly smile, as he glanced at the shore 
inside of the point. 44 There isn’t a fellow on 
board of the steamer that don’t like to be at the 
wheel.” 

44 I dare say there isn’t one of you that will not 
get enough of it before the cruise is finished,” I 
added. 44 You may take the wheel now, Lynch.” 

“ Of course I don’t want to take the wheel 
away from Ellie Dykeman,” protested Lynch ; 
and I saw that his jaw fell tremendously on the 
instant. 

“ I am perfectly willing to give it up, though I 
confess that I like the job better than any thing 
else on board,” said Ellie. 

44 You hear that, Captain Alick ! ” exclaimed 
Lynch. 

44 1 hear it ; but you will take the wheel, 
Lynch,” I replied. 

44 But I protest against depriving Ellie of his 
fun,” continued Lynch. 

44 We can’t have any protesting on board ship : 
it is never in order. If I am captain, all hands 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


165 


must obey me. — Go forward, Ellie,” I added, 
taking the wheel from his hands. 

Ellie obeyed the order without any hesitation ; 
and Lynch, sorely against his will, took the helm 
from my hands. 


166 


L AKE BREEZES ; OR, 


CHAPTER XVI. 


THE ACCIDENT TO THE WHEEL. 

YNCH had not intended to disobey my 



orders, and I did not regard his objection 
to taking the helm as mutiny. If I had not un- 
derstood his intentions, I should have considered 
his conduct a fit subject for discipline. By this 
time I had fully made up my mind that the 
Islander was concealed somewhere beyond Point 
Huron. Lynch wanted his time to himself, so 
that he could slip below and disable the Islander, 
thus enabling his father to escape without any 
pursuit. 

“ Keep her south-west ! ” I called to Lynch, as I 
left the pilot-house. 

But I saw that it would be necessary for me 
to watch him very closely, for there was so much 
shallow water near that he could have put her 
hard and fast aground in five minutes. I walked 
a little way aft to a point abreast of my state- 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 


167 


room, so that I could see where the steamer went, 
though the mate could not see me. It was possi- 
ble for Lynch to derange the steering-gear, but 
he could not interfere with the engine. If he 
attempted to run the vessel ashore, I had a bell- 
pull near me, and I could stop and back the en- 
gine before the traitor in the pilot-house could 
run her aground. 

I got the range of an object on the shore miles 
ahead, and any considerable deviation from the 
course would be apparent to me. In this position 
I beckoned Ellie to join me. He had one eye on 
me all the time, for I dare say my movements 
were somewhat strange to him. I intended to 
give him only a hint in regard to the conduct of 
the mate, reserving the full explanation for a 
more convenient season. Ellie came aft at once, 
leaving Bob Washburn on the forecastle, for he 
had not observed my signal to his companion. 

“ Ellie, there is trouble on board,” I began in 
an impressive whisper, which caused him to open 
wide his expressive eyes. 

He looked at me, apparently confounded by the 
announcement: as we were just starting on a 
pleasure-excursion, and had always been the best 


1G8 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


of friends, nothing could have been more unex- 
pected to him. He asked no question, but waited 
for further explanation. 

“ Lynch Braceback is playing a big game on 
me, Ellie,” I continued in the same impressive 
whisper. 

“ What do you mean by that, Captain Alick ? ” 
demanded my companion. 

“ I can’t stop to explain it now, but he is a 
traitor to me. Don’t say a word to him, or let 
him know by your looks or actions that we sus- 
pect any thing. I know what I am about ; and I 
want you to watch him all the time, without let- 
ting him know that you suspect any thing.” 

“ But I can’t see ” — 

“ Never mind : I can see it all. Now go for- 
ward, and as soon as ” — - 

I had said so much when there was a sudden 
snap, the noise of a rattling chain was heard, 
and it was evident from the feeling of the vessel 
that something had given way. Of course I at 
once attributed the mishap, whatever it was, to 
the trickery of the mate at the wheel. But in an 
instant I realized what had happened. A similar 
accident, if this was an accident, had occurred on 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


169 


board before. The wheel-rope was broken or 
detached from its fastening on the drum ; and one 
of the tiller-chains had run out, making a great 
noise as it rushed through the grooves and over 
the pulleys which kept it in place. 

I sprang to the bell-pull, and one stroke of the 
gong in the engineer’s room stopped the engine. 
I rang to back her, and then to stop her as soon 
as the steamer had lost her headway. She lay in 
the channel, with twelve feet of water all around 
her; and for the present she was perfectly safe. 
It was plain enough to me that Lynch had in- 
tended to let the Sylvania run aground, for he 
ought to have pulled the bell the instant the rope 
parted. In half a minute more she would have 
been hard and fast ; for, running on at full speed, 
she must have buried her keel in the sand at the 
bottom of the lake. 

“ That’s what’s the matter ! ” I exclaimed, as 
soon as the steamer was stationary on the water. 
“ Lynch did that on purpose.” 

“ Do you think so ? ” demanded Ellie, with a 
look of blank amazement. 

“ I know it ! ” I replied in an energetic whisper. 
u Remember what I told you, and keep your eyes 
wide open.” 


170 


LAKE BKEEZES | OR^ 


I rushed into the pilot-house to ascertain the 
nature of the mischief that had been done. I was 
satisfied, that, if I had not been on the lookout for 
something of the kind, the Sylvania would have 
been at this moment aground ; and it might have 
taken several days to get her off. It could only 
have been done by taking out all her coal ; and, 
while we were engaged in this task, Captain 
Braceback could have gone to any part of the 
lake he wished without pursuit, though of course 
I should have had an officer sent after him as soon 
as I could return to Montomercy. 

“What’s the matter, Lynch?” I asked as 
coolly as I could ; and the accident was enough to 
explain any little excitement on my part. 

“ The wheel-rope has parted ! ” exclaimed the 
mate ; and he manifested far more excitement 
than I did. “ I saw that the lashing was loose, 
and I was just going to call you when the rope 
gave way.” 

“ Why didn’t you stop her ? ” I inquired. 

“ I had my hand on the bell-pull to do so when 
I heard the gong ; and I saw that you had done it 
for me. Of course if I had rung again Moses 
would have started her,” said Lynch, much ex* 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 171 

cited ; or at least he pretended to be so. “ Didn’t 
you see that the lashing of the wheel-rope was 
loose, Captain Alick ? ” 

“ I hadn’t observed it,” I replied. 

“ It is strange that you did not : you are so 
careful about these things,” added Lynch. 

“ It is strange. But it is lucky it broke here 
where there was no strain on the rudder, and not 
when we were running in a swift current, which 
might have carried us ashore. Never mind it: we 
can soon repair damages,” I continued. 

I saw Lynch gazing anxiously at the shore in- 
side of Point Huron ; and I was confident the 
Islander was concealed somewhere beyond it, 
though I could not think of any creek that would 
afford her a hiding-place. But there was no time 
to lose, and I did not lose any. I called all 
hands, and, putting the helm amidships, had the 
chain attached to the broken wheel-rope hauled 
forward. Giving the rope the required number 
of turns on the drum, I rigged a whip, and hauled 
the line taut, so that we could secure the end 
around one of the spokes, as it had been before. 
I removed the piece of spun-yarn with which it 
had been fastened, and sent Ben Bowman for a 


172 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


new one. While he was gone I examined the 
spun-yarn which had parted, though I turned my 
back to the mate as I did so. It was a mystery 
to me that the seizing should give way, but my 
examination assured me that the rope-yarn had 
been cut with a knife. As Ben returned to the 
pilot-house, I put the seizing in my pocket for 
further examination, and possibly for use as evi- 
dence. 

I secured the end of the wheel-rope again with 
the greatest care, so that there should be no ex- 
cuse for another accident of this kind. I said 
nothing more to the mate about the matter, noth- 
ing more to any one. I overhauled the seizing on 
the other wheel-rope, and found it perfectly sound, 
as I was confident the other had been. 

“We are all right now, Lynch; and you can 
go ahead again,” I said, when the damage had 
been repaired. 

Backing the Sylvania had brought her to her 
original position when the wheel-rope gave way, 
and she was headed down the channel. The mate 
rang the bell, and the steamer went ahead again. 
I did not think the traitor would attempt to dis- 
able the steering-gear again ; and I left the pilot- 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


173 


house, as Ellie and Bob had done before. I went 
forward, and seated myself at the heel of the bow- 
sprit, where I could obtain a good view of the 
shore inside of Point Huron. I could see nothing 
of the Islander, though by this time we were in 
a position to discover her if she were in this part 
of the lake. 

Ellie was following my instructions to the let- 
ter, for he neither said nor looked any thing. 
The Sylvania continued on her course to the 
south-west till she was full five miles from the 
mouth of Glinten River. I took my spyglass, and 
carefully examined the shore from the point to 
the head of the bay ; but I could see nothing that 
looked like a steamer. I was mystified and per- 
plexed ; for I had been so confident the Islander 
had come in this direction, that I was not willing 
to believe to the contrary. 

“ How much farther are we going in this direc- 
tion ? ” called Lynch from the pilot-house. 

“ I’ll see in a few minutes,” I replied. 

I had kept one eye on the mate all the time, 
and he had been examining the shore as carefully 
as I had done ; and more than once he had used 
the field-glass which usually lay on the shelf in 


174 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


front of him, by the side of the binnacle. If I 
was mistaken, as I began to think I was by 
this time, he had been no less mistaken, in re- 
gard to the direction taken by the Islander. My 
companions not on duty had been strolling about 
the deck, and continued their walk to the stern 
of the vessel. 

“ I see the Islander is making for the north 
channel,” said Bob Washburn, as he came forward 
after one of these strolls aft. 

He spoke as though it did not make the slight- 
est difference where the Islander went, for neither 
he nor Elbe knew that I was looking for her. I 
did not care to call the mate’s attention to the 
fact that the other steamer had been discovered, 
and I walked leisurely aft with the glass in my 
hand. When I reached the quarter-deck, I ex- 
amined the distant craft, and realized that it was 
indeed the Islander. 

She was all of seven miles distant from us. It 
was plain enough that she had run in behind 
the north point, instead of going'to the southward, 
as I had believed she would do. As soon as the 
Sylvania was well out of her way, she had come 
out from her hiding-place, and stood off to the 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


175 


north-east. But I had discovered her, and that 
was all I wanted. I was satisfied that I could 
overtake her some time ; or at least get upon the 
track of her captain if he landed on the British 
side of the lake. 

“ I think we won’t go any farther in this direc- 
tion, Lynch,” I said, in an indifferent tone, as I 
walked forward. ‘*Come about, and stand over 
to the south-pass channel.” 

“ All right, Captain Alick,” replied the mate. 

I was confident that he had not yet seen the 
Islander ; but he knew enough about the lake to 
be satisfied that his father’s vessel was not where 
we had both supposed she was. He put the helm 
down, and the Sylvania was soon standing over 
towards the channel in an east south-easterly 
direction. Seven miles to the northward and 
eastward was the Islander, barely to be observed 
at this distance. I watched the face of Lynch, 
and I saw the slight start he gave when he dis- 
covered her. 

We had a run of six miles to the entrance of 
the channel; and I concluded that it was time for 
me to enlighten my friends in regard to the situa* 
tion. 


176 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


CHAPTER XVII. 

THE SYL VANIA IN THE SHADE. 

I T was plain sailing across the lake, and I had 
decided to unburden my mind to Elbe and 
Bob in the cabin. But all the while I was think- 
ing where I was coming out in the chase that was 
before me : the Islander was headed for the north 
channel, and the Sylvania for the south channel. 
I went into my state-room to examine my chart 
before I opened the conference with my friends. 

As nearly as I could measure the distance with 
the dividers, each of the two steamers would have 
to go fifteen miles before they would come to- 
gether on the St. Clair River. The Islander was 
certainly headed towards the north pass, and the 
presumption was that she was going through it to 
the river. But at this point a harassing doubt 
came up for consideration. After the Sylvania 
had entered the south pass, and those on board of 
her could no longer look out on the lake, the 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


177 


Islander might come about, and make for Detroit 
River and Lake Erie. If I lost sight of her I 
should be obliged to chase her in the dark. 

I could have no doubt in regard to the inten- 
tions of Captain Braceback. He had gone to the 
northward, and concealed his craft behind the 
point, in order to throw me off the track. Doubt- 
less he supposed I should run for St. Clair River, 
and intended, as soon as the Sylvania had disap- 
peared in the south pass, to make for Detroit 
River. Behind the point he could not see what 
had become of her; and I had no doubt he be- 
lieved she had gone into the canal, and thence 
into the south pass, in accordance with his pro- 
gramme. 

I could see the Islander ; but he could also see 
the Sylvania as she came out from behind Huron 
Point. Possibly by this time he suspected that I 
had missed the treasure. If he did, the fact 
would make him all the sharper, and all the more 
anxious to keep out of my way. Of course, if I 
had fathomed his purpose sooner, I should not 
have come out from the friendly shelter of the 
land till the Islander was through the crooked 
channel and fairly in the pass. But it was too 


178 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


late now to recede from my position, and I could 
only make the best of it. 

After carefully examining the chart, I made up 
my mind what to do. I could not afford to let 
Captain Braceback get to the southward of me ; 
for a run of twenty miles would bring him to 
Windsor, where there were several trains every 
day to the large towns of the Dominion. I de- 
cided, therefore, to run into the south pass a short 
distance, and take a position where I could see 
the Islander if she returned to the south. I knew 
of several places where the Sylvania could be 
concealed. 

By the time I had made these calculations, we 
were at the entrance of the old channel, used 
before the opening of the canal through the flats. 
A large schooner in tow of a tug-boat had' just 
come through, bound to the southward. The en- 
gine of the tug appeared to be out of order, and 
she had stopped her propeller to repair damages. 
The two vessels were at rest near the entrance 
of the channel. The schooner was a three-mast- 
er ; and, though the wind was light, she had all 
her sails set. The sight of her suggested a new 
idea. I went into the pilot-house, and relieved 
the mate from duty at the wheel. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


179 


Taking the helm of the Syl vania, I ran her 
to windward of the schooner, so that she was 
between the steam-yacht and the Islander. The 
men on board of the tug hailed us as we ap- 
proached ; and this afforded me a sufficient excuse 
for running alongside of the schooner. The en- 
gineer of the tug asked if we had a certain kind 
of bolt on board. I called Moses ; and, in order 
to delay matters as much as possible, I directed 
the mate to get out the boat, and, placing Ben 
Bowman in charge of the machine, I sent our 
engineer on board of the disabled steamer. 

I was satisfied that those on board of the Is- 
lander could not see the Sylvania ; and, at her 
distance from us, it would be easy for them to 
suppose she had entered the south pass. Moses 
went on board of the tdg. I had quietly in- 
structed him to render all the assistance in his 
power, assuring him that we were in no hurry. 
He was an enthusiast in the matter of machinery, 
and I had known him to w«rk all night over a 
difficult problem in his favorite study. It ap- 
peared afterwards that he and the engineer of the 
tug had disagreed in regard to the disability of 
the engine, which had been built in the shop 


180 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


where Moses learned his trade; and between 
them it took an hour to settle the question in dis- 
Dute before they were ready to repair the damage. 

As the mate was at a safe distance, I had the 
iesired opportunity to explain the situation to 
Ellie and Bob Washburn. Before I had fairly in- 
troduced the explanation, Professor Buckminster 
came out of his state-room where he had been 
reading, and wanted to know when I intended to 
resume my studies. I told him I did not believe 
I could bring my mind up to Latin, Greek, and 
mathematics, for a few days, for I was greatly ex- 
sited over another subject. 

“ You mustn’t turn aside from your studies for 
any thing else if you intend to enter college in a 
year from this summer, ” said he, shaking his head. 

“ I don’t know as I can enter college at all, to 
say nothing of a year hence,” I replied ; and I am 
afraid my smile was rather a sickly one as I thought 
of the consequences of the loss of the treasure. 

“Why, what has happened? ” asked the profes- 
sor, with a look of anxiety ; and I was sure it was 
born of a real interest in his pupil. 

“ I have not heard from my father for several 
months, and I should not be at all surprised to 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 


181 


learn that all my prospects on the other side of 
the Atlantic were blasted,” I answered. “ I should 
not mind that so much if I had not been robbed 
of all I had on this side of the ocean.” 

“ Why, what do you mean, Alick ? ” demanded 
the professor. 

“What has happened, Captain Alick?” asked 
Bob and Elbe in the same breath. 

It took me half an hour to tell what had hap- 
pened as briefly as I could. I related the history 
of the valuable package from the time it had been 
first deposited in the Montomercy Bank for safe- 
keeping, down to the moment when it had been 
taken from the cellar of Mr. Brickland’s house. 

“ I did not think you and Mr. Brickland were 
such fools as to put a package containing over a 
hundred thousand dollars in the cellar of the 
house, ” said Elbe bluntly. 

“We were not fools enough to leave it in the 
bank after two or three attempts to rob it had been 
made,” I retorted rather sharply. 

“ But it is evident enough that Captain Brace- 
back, as the watchman of the bank, made all these 
attempts himself,” interposed Mr. Buckminster. 

“ It is very easy to see that now ; but it was not 


182 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


so easy when we took out the package, and we 
should certainly have taken it out if we had un- 
derstood that he had designs upon it. But it is 
useless to discuss the past: the future is all we 
have to do with. I am confident that package is 
on board of the Islander. Captain Braceback will 
land at some port on the Canada side, where he 
can take a train to Montreal, Toronto, or some 
other large place ; and our business just now is to 
prevent him from doing so, and to recover the 
property if possible,” I continued. 

“ Well, why are you not following the Islander, 
instead of lying idle here ? ” asked the professor, 
with no little excitement in his manner. 

“ I think the Islander will come about, and run 
for Windsor as soon as Captain Braceback thinks 
we are well on our way through the south pass,” 
I answered. 

I explained the movements of the Islander, as I 
understood them, and the reason why I had placed 
the Sylvania in the shadow of the great sails of 
the three-master. As I spoke I took the glass, and 
examined the situation of the steamer at the north 
of us. It seemed to me that she had stopped her 
propeller ; and, comparing her with the stationary 


THE CETTISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


183 


objects in the distance, I was satisfied this was the 
case. We had been alongside the schooner more 
than half an hour, and I was satisfied that her 
people had missed the Sylvania. They were 
doubtless engaged just then in looking her up, or 
waiting for her to get well up the south pass. 

I explained my views of the situation to my 
friends, and they expressed the opinion that I was 
correct. At any rate, every thing worked in ac- 
cordance with the theory I had laid down. The 
schooner had lowered her jib and flying-jib, and 
there was hardly wind enough to flap her other 
sails, which afforded the steamer a convenient 
shelter. I had directed Ben Bowman to bank his 
fires so that the smoke from the furnaces should 
not betray our position. 

We continued to discuss the situation in the 
pilot-house, until we had used up an hour in this 
way. By this time the engineer of the tug had 
been convinced as to the difficulty with the en- 
gine of his craft ; but it required another hour to 
repair the damage. Lynch had become disgusted 
with the delay, for Moses had not told him what 
instructions I had given him. 

The mate sculled the boat back to the Sylvania 


184 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


He could not help seeing the position of the Is- 
lander ; and very likely he fathomed the purpose 
of his father, as I was satisfied I had done. She 
had ceased to move ; and this fact disturbed 
Lynch. Probably he understood from it that his 
father intended to return to the southward as soon 
as the Sylvania was fairly out of sight in the south 
pass. He could no longer wait patiently for the 
engineer to complete his work, as he had done 
while he believed the Islander was increasing her 
distance from the Sylvania. 

“ How much longer are we to remain here ? ” he 
demanded, as his boat came within hailing distance 
of the steamer. 

“We are in no hurry, Lynch, as I have been 
saying all the morning,” I replied quietly. 

“ Moses will never get that job done,” protested 
the mate. 

“ Do you think so ? How far along have they 
got with it ? ” 

“I don’t know. We shall not get into the St. 
Clair River till night at this rate,” continued 
Lynch impatiently. 

“ No matter if we don’t : we know the way. But 
just return and ask Moses how much longer it will 
take to finish the job,” I added. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


185 


Possibly Lynch believed this would expedite the 
matter, and he sculled the boat back to the tug. 

“You can see that he understands the situa- 
tion,” I remarked, as the mate passed out of hear- 
ing distance. “ He was not in a hurry till he saw 
that the Islander had stopped. Some of us must 
keep an eye on Lynch night or day,” I continued 
earnestly. “ If he goes below, some one must fol- 
low him.” 

“We will do that,” replied Elbe and Bob to- 
gether. “ This is getting to be rather exciting.” 

“It will be when the chase actually begins. We 
are only skirmishing now,” I added, as I raised my 
glass to examine the Islander again. “She has 
oome about, and is headed to the south now ! ” I 
exclaimed, not a little excited to find that I had 
correctly read the intentions of the captain of the 
Islander. 

In half an hour more she was off Glinten River. 
When Moses had finished the job on the tug’s en- 
gine, Lynch and the engineer returned. 


186 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

A RACE TO THE SOUTHWARD. 

T SAW that Lynch Braceback was intensely 
excited when he came on board of the Sylvania. 
He could not help seeing that I was getting the 
better of his father in the bit of strategy I was 
using. I wondered if he believed I suspected the 
loss of the valuable package he and his father had 
stolen. I did not see how he could help doing so. 

“ Why are we waiting here all this time ? ” de- 
manded Lynch, as he came upon deck. 

“ Why, what is the matter, Lynch ? you seem to 
be excited,” I replied, laughing at his agitation ; 
and I felt pretty good over the present situation 
of affairs. 

44 1 hate to stay here all day when there is such 
a pile of fun before us in the upper lakes,” added 
the mate ; and he hardly took the trouble to con- 
ceal his disgust. 44 But the confounded old tug 
is fixed up now, and we needn’t wait any longer.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


187 


“ Don’t be in such a hurry, Lynch : we may not 
go up the St. Clair for a day or two yet. What 
makes you so impatient ? ” 

“ When a fellow gets his mind made up for any 
thing, he don’t like to be kept back a week foi 
nothing.” 

“But we have two months before us; and it 
isn’t more than three days’ run to Lake Superior 
at the most,” I added. “ Isn’t that the Islander 
coming down the lake, Lynch ? ” 

“ I suppose it is,” replied the mate, looking at 
me very sharply. 

“Your father seems to have changed his mind, 
and concluded not to go up the lake any farther.” 

“ I don’t know that he intended to go up the 
lake any farther,” growled Lynch. 

At this moment Ben Bowman struck eight bells, 
for we did every thing in -ship-shape style. Before 
the mate could say any thing more, the steward 
rang the bell at the door of the cabin for dinner. 

“We may as well go in and have dinner before 
we get under way again,” I said, calling Ben, and 
giving him the charge of the pilot-house and deck. 

“ I don’t want any dinner yet,” exclaimed 
Lynch, who saw that the Islander must be quite 


188 


LAKE BREEZES \ OR^ 


near us by the time the meal was finished. “ If 
the rest of you will go to dinner, I will start the 
steamer, and eat my dinner when you get through,” 
suggested Lynch. 

u No: let’s have a good time at the table, for 
Gopher has got up a nice dinner for us,” laughed 
Elbe, who saw where the shoe pinched the mate. 
“Besides, we want to give the Islander three 
cheers when she comes down.” 

I insisted that we should all dine together, and 
the mate reluctantly followed us down into the 
cabin. 

We had beefsteak, fried potatoes, coffee, and a 
pudding, which we discussed at length, though we 
could all see that Lynch was fidgeting the whole 
time, unable to keep reasonably quiet in his seat. 
The Sylvania was still in the shade of the sails of 
the steamer ; for in repairing the damage the engi- 
neer of the tug had been obliged to draw his fires 
because the heat interfered with the work. He 
was getting up steam again, and all hands on the 
three vessels were at dinner. 

We enjoyed the dinner very much, not only 
because it was a good dinner, but because the 
mate was so much annoyed at the delay. Elbe 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


189 


and Bob were full of fun ; and even Moses, though 
he did not know any thing about the situation, 
was remarkably bright. We spent a full half- 
hour at the table. When Lynch tried to hurry us, 
Bob spoke very elaborately of the danger to the 
digestive organs of haste in eating. Ellie thought 
that about half of the fun of a cruise on the lakes 
or at sea was in the pleasures of the table. 

But at last the meal was finished, and poor 
Lynch rushed up the ladder from the cabin as 
though he expected to find a gold-mine as soon as 
he reached the deck. The rest of us followed 
him more leisurely. When I reached the quarter- 
deck, I discovered the Islander just about abreast 
of us, not more than two miles distant. She was 
making for Detroit River with all her speed. If 
she had seen the Sylvania at all, it could only 
have been within the last five or ten minutes. 

“ We are rather too far off to give her three 
cheers,” said Ellie, as we came together on deck. 

“ We will try to get nearer to her,” I replied. 
“ Moses, put on steam, all you can safely carry.” 

I hastened to the pilot-house, and, ringing the 
bell to go ahead, I took a hasty survey of the situa- 
tion. The steamer began to move, but her steam 


190 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


was rather lo*W ; and this fact was against us. But 
I knew that Moses would have her at her best 
speed in a very short time. I opened the binna- 
cle, and headed the Sylvania south-west, half 
south. The distance to Detroit River was just 
twenty miles ; and the Islander had the same dis- 
tance to run, with some little advantage of us in 
the fact that she had a full head of steam on. 

“ Where are we going now ? ” demanded the 
mate, as soon as I had laid the course of the 
steamer. 

“We are going down to give the Islander three 
cheers,” I replied merrily. 

“ It seems to me you are going a long distance 
out of your way to do it,” said Lynch with a 
sickly smile. 

“ She is not more than two miles from us now,” 
I answered, glancing at the chase. 

“ But you won’t get any nearer to her for two 
hours at least. My father says the Islander can 
outsail any thing on the lakes.” 

“Perhaps he is right; but I should like to 
measure lengths with him for a while.” 

“ Why don’t you give the three cheers here, and 
let us go about our business ? ” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 191 


“We are out on a pleasure-excursion; and we 
may as well take our fun as we go along,” I con- 
tinued, laughing at the earnestness of the mate. 

Lynch was not at all satisfied with the situation ; 
but he evidently could not trust himself to con- 
verse with me on the subject. He could not help 
realizing that he was betraying himself ; or at least 
that he was manifesting too much interest in the 
course of the Sylvania, as compared with his com- 
panions on board. He walked aft ; but both Ellie 
and Bob followed him, as they had been instructed 
to do. I did not feel that the mate had any power 
to do any mischief under this close surveillance. 

I soon found that Moses was carrying out his 
instructions to put on all the steam he could 
carry ; for the speed of the Sylvania was rapidly 
increasing. The Islander had been gaining upon 
us, but within half an hour I was satisfied that we 
were holding our own. I watched the chase with 
the closest attention ; and I used my geometry in 
measuring the angles between our relative posi- 
tion and the fixed objects on the shore. For the 
next half-hour neither vessel appeared to gain on 
the other. But we were approaching the same 
point from positions two miles apart ; and, if each 


192 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


steamer held its own, we should enter Detroit 
River at about the same time. 

I had not told Moses Brickland any thing about 
the situation on board, as he had been on the 
tug when I made my explanations to the rest 
of my friends. I thought I had better give him 
the information I had conveyed to the others, and 
I called Bob Washburn into the pilot-house. He 
had often steered the Sylvania by compass, but he 
was not quite so good a wheelman as I wished he 
was. I gave him the helm ; but I charged him to 
keep her very steady, and not let her vary even a 
fraction of a point from the course. 

“ Steer very small, and watch the compass every 
instant : don’t mind any thing else,” I said to him, 
as I left the pilot-house. 

The great fault of inexperienced helmsmen is, 
that they keep the vessel “ wabbling ” about by 
turning the wheel too much when she varies a 
little from the course. I had often spoken to Bob 
about this matter ; and he had greatly improved. 
I watched him for a few minutes, till I saw that he 
was doing just right, and then hastened to the 
engine-room, though not till I hud stationed the 
mate on the forecastle as a lookout. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 


193 


“ Are you doing your best with her, Moses ? ” I 
asked. 

“ Perhaps not the best,” replied the engineer as 
he glanced at his gauges. “ I am not driving her, 
but she has what we call full steam.” 

“Can she do any better without danger?” I 
inquired with interest. 

“I should say that she could; but I did not 
understand that you were in any particular hurry,” 
said Moses. 

“ I am in the biggest hurry I ever was in in 
my life. 

“ Is that so ? ” and Moses looked inquiringly at 
me, as though he wondered why I could possibly 
be in a hurry on the present occasion. 

But, without waiting to hear what I had to say 
in explanation of my haste, he went down into the 
fire-room, and added an extra supply of fuel to the 
furnaces. Calling Ben Bowman, he charged him 
to watch the fires, and returned to the engine- 
room. 

in as few words as possible, I told him the story 
I had related to my other friends. He was much 
astonished, and wondered that his father had 
never said any thing to him about the package. I 


194 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


stated the reason why Mr. Brickland had been 
silent. He was sure he could get another mile an 
hour out of the Sylvania without any danger ; 
and he at once busied himself with the oil-cans. 
I had no doubt he would do all in his power to 
enable me to overhaul the Islander, and I left 
him. 

Returning to the pilot-house, I watched the 
steering of the vessel, and assured Bob he was 
doing as well as anybody could do with the 
wheel. I measured the angles again ; and, when 
the Sylvania began to shake and vibrate under 
the increased pressure of steam, I saw that we 
were gaining a little. The race was growing 
rather exciting to all who understood the situation. 

“ What are you trying to do, Captain Alick ? ” 
asked Lynch, striving to be as calm as possible. 

“ You say your father thinks the Islander can 
beat the Sylvania ; and I want to know about it,” 
I replied. 

“ But you are driving the Sylvania : she shakes 
like a log in a saw-mill,” added Lynch. “ I don’t 
think my father is hurrying the Islander.” 

“ I should say that he was. Can’t you see by 
the smoke that they are piling in the coal ? ” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


195 


“My father has sailed both of these steamers, 
and he says the Islander can beat this one ; and I 
think he ought to know,” added Lynch ; and he 
was evidently glad to have something besides the 
real situation to explain his nervous manner. 

“ I have heard it stated just the other way, — 
that the Sylvania, which was built after the Is- 
lander, was just a little faster,” I added. “ Be that 
as it may, we can settle this question now to the 
satisfaction of your father and all concerned.” 

“ But my father is not driving the Islander.” 

“ Well, if he chooses to let her be beaten, that 
will not be my fault. But there goes another lot 
of coal into the furnaces,” I continued, as a vol- 
ume of black smoke rolled up from her smoke- 
stack. 

“You ought to have said something about it to 
my father before we started, if you wanted to race 
with him,” said Lynch. 

“I think he can see it now. We are beating 
him, as sure as you live ! ” 

About five miles from the entrance of the 
river, the Islander suddenly came about. 


196 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


CHAPTER XIX. 


COALING AT PORT HURON. 

HEN the Islander came about, the Sylvania 



* * had perhaps gained a couple of lengths 
upon her. It was not a very decided victory: 
indeed, it was so insignificant that the mate 
refused to acknowledge that we had beaten her at 
all. Certainly he was not very loyal to the craft 
in which he sailed ; but then the issue was a false 
one with him as well as with me. But I was 
pleased to know that the Islander could not run 
away from me. 

“ I suppose you will go through the canal now, 
and let us be on our way for the upper lakes,” 
said Lynch, coming up to me at the heel of the 
bowsprit. 

“I don’t know about that yet. You seem to 
think the Sylvania has not beaten the Islander ; 
and I should like to know something more about 
this business,” I replied, laughing. “ Come about, 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVAHIA. 197 


Bob, and follow the Islander ; but you need not 
follow her if our craft insists upon going ahead.” 

“ I don’t see what you want to keep fooling 
with her for ! ” exclaimed the mate, disgusted with 
the situation. 

“ I think I shall be obliged to follow the Island- 
er till you are willing to admit that the Sylvania 
is too much for her.” 

“ If that is all you want, I will admit it now,” 
added Lynch. 

“ Oh no ! I’m not going to accept your admission 
till you are satisfied on the point. I don’t want 
you to go on shore and say that the Sylvania was 
beaten, or that your father was not driving his 
craft.” 

“ I will give it up, and never say a word about 
the matter any way, if you will only let us go on 
about our business,” replied the mate. 

“You have got my blood up; and I want to 
know about it now, especially as the Islander is 
headed the very way we desire to go.” 

Lynch said no more, and I sent him to the wheel 
to relieve Bob. I told him to follow the Islander 
wherever she went ; but I did not intend to trust 
him without keeping a sharp lookout over his 
actions. 


198 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


If the mate did not realize that the Sylvania 
was beating the Islander, his father did ; for we 
were coming into Detroit River ahead of her. It 
was plain enough to Captain Braceback that he 
could not land at Windsor, or at any other point 
on the Canada side, without finding me close by 
him when he did so. For this reason he had 
come about, doubtless concluding that he stood a 
better chance to get away from me by running for 
the upper lakes. 

“ Do you suppose Captain Braceback believes 
you have discovered the loss of the package ? ” 
asked Elbe, as we met near the door of the en- 
gine-room. 

“ I have no doubt he is afraid we have, though 
it is possible he thinks we are only trying to get 
up a race with him,” I replied. “ At any rate, he 
means to be on the safe side, and keep out of our 
way if he can.” 

“ Are you sure that Lynch knows his father 
took the package ? ” asked Bob. 

“Am I sure? He helped him dig it up at 
the bottom of the cellar,” I replied confidently. 
“ Didn’t you see the yellow mud on his clothes ? ” 

“ I noticed it,” said both of my friends to- 
gether. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVAUIA. 


199 


“It was that which assured me he had been 
concerned in the taking of it.” 

“ I have been thinking of this matter since you 
told us about it,” continued Elbe thoughtfully. 
“Don’t you believe it was Lynch who got you 
into all those scrapes at Somerset College ? ” 

“ I don’t know : I hadn’t thought of the matter,” 
I replied, turning my attention in that direction. 

“ I will bet my life that Lynch was at the bot- 
tom of the whole of it ! ” exclaimed Bob Wash- 
burn. 

“ Perhaps it was ; but it isn’t proved,” I added. 

“ Perhaps it may never be proved ; but a fellow 
can have his opinion, for all that,” said Bob. 

“It looks to me now just as if Captain Brace- 
back was in Montomercy for the sole purpose of 
getting you into trouble, Captain Alick,” added 
Elbe. 

He went over the ground to show the reason for 
his belief. I had no doubt that Captain Brace- 
back got into the bank as a watchman for the sole 
purpose of obtaining possession of the package 
deposited there by my guardian ; but I could not 
see why Lynch should try to get me into trouble 
at the school, unless it was to make it appear that 


200 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


I was a bad boy, and bad taken the package my- 
self. But it was of little use to prove that Lynch 
had been a traitor to me from the very beginning 
of our acquaintance: he was certainly playing a 
double part now, and that was enough for my 
present purpose. 

I told Moses that he need not drive the Sylva- 
nia any more ; that all I desired was to keep the 
Islander in sight. The pressure was removed, 
and the chase began to gain upon us. The en- 
gineer noticed the increasing distance between the 
two vessels, and spoke to me about it. I waited 
a while longer, and then saw that Captain Brace- 
back was no more inclined to drive his boat 
than I was. The pressure was removed from the 
Islander, and for the next hour the two vessels 
maintained their distance from each other. 

“ The Islander has changed her course,” said 
Ellie, who was the first to notice the fact. 

“ I see : she is going through the canal,” I 
replied. 

A moment later the mate changed the course 
of the Sylvania. By this time the chase was 
about half a mile ahead of us. When she en- 
tered the canal, she was obliged to slow down to 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


201 


less than half speed ; but, as we were compelled to 
do the same, we gained nothing ; and both vessels 
entered the south pass at the same distance as be- 
fore from each other. At eight o’clock in the 
evening we reached Port Huron. I was curious 
to know how large a supply of coal the Islander 
had ; but I had made up my mind in the morning 
that her bunkers were full, for she was well down 
in the water. In this respect the conditions of 
the two vessels were about equal. 

Captain Braceback must be satisfied by this 
time that he could not run away from the Syl- 
vania ; and I was confident that he relied upon a 
fog, or some other circumstance, to enable him to 
dodge us. But the weather was entirely clear, 
with no prospect of a storm, or even of thick 
fogs. 

“ She is going in at a wharf ! ” exclaimed Bob 
Washburn, rushing up to me on the quarter-deck. 

“All right,” I replied, ringing the gong to stop 
her. 

I went forward, and saw that the chase was 
headed for a coal-wharf. I went into the pilot- 
house, and took the wheel from Ellie, who had 
been steering for the last hour. I made a landing 


202 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


at a wharf a few rods below that where the 
Islander had gone in, and made fast. I concluded 
that Captain Braceback intended to fill up his 
bunkers in order to be prepared for any emer- 
gency ; and I lost no time in doing the same 
thing. With one day’s supply of fuel more than 
we had, the chase might lead us about the lakes 
for a couple of days, and then give us the slip 
when we had not the power to follow him. I felt 
that I was too smart to be caught in any such 
trap. It was the mate’s duty to attend to the 
work of coaling ; and, while he was so employed, 
I left him, with Bob Washburn to have an eye 
upon his actions. I wanted to take a look at the 
Islander, and Elbe and I walked up to her 
berth. 

“ Good-evening, Captain Alick,” said the sail- 
ing-master of the Islander, as we approached. 

“Good-evening, sir,” I replied, utterly con- 
founded by this stretch of civility on the part of 
Captain Braceback; for this was about the first 
time he had spoken to me since he had been dis- 
charged by the former owner of the Syl vania. 

Of course I concluded that his civility was for 
a purpose ; but I was not disposed to resent it on 


THE CETTISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


203 


tliat account. Possibly, as he had all my worldly 
possessions in his hands, he felt that he could 
afford to be civil to me ; but it was more likely 
that he wanted to get some information out of 
me. 

“How are you off for coal?” asked Captain 
Braceback in a tone as gentle as though we had 
been friends all our lives. 

“ I started with my bunkers full, as you did,” 
I replied. 

“ Not quite correct, Captain Alick. We started 
from Lake Erie with our bunkers full, but not 
from Montomercy, as you did,” said the captain, 
with a laugh, as though he had caught me in a 
blunder. 

So far it was a blunder, for I had not taken it 
into consideration that he had run over a hundred 
miles with his supply before he started from Mont- 
omercy. 

“You are right, Captain Braceback; but we are 
likely to leave Port Huron with about as many 
tons in one vessel as in the other:” 

“We shall try to keep about even with you. 
But where are you bound, Captain Alick ? ” 

“We are out on a cruise; and it don’t make 


204 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


much difference to us where we go,” I answered 
evasively. 

“Well, it don’t to me. My owners sent me out 
for a week to make sure that the Islander was in 
good condition for the summer ; and, as this is my 
first season in her, I am anxious to get fully ac- 
quainted with her before I take any passengers on 
board.” 

“ It is a good plan to know your craft well,” I 
added. 

“ You handle the Sylvania exceedingly well, 
Captain Alick.” 

I thought this very kind of him. I was not 
much astonished when he invited me to go on 
board of the Islander, as I had never seen her. I 
considered a moment, and then decided to accept 
the invitation. I did not see that any harm could 
come to me in doing so, and I had a perfect confi- 
* dence in my ability to take care of myself under 
all circumstances. We glanced at the arrange- 
ments on deck, and then descended to the cabin. 
Every thing was precisely like the Sylvania. 

“Take a seat, Captain Alick,” continued the 
captain of the Islander, as he dropped into a chair 
beneath the swinging light over the table. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


205 


I seated myself, and Ellie did the same. As I 
glanced at the captain, the first thing I noticed was 
that his clothes were even more richly bedaubed 
with yellow mud than the garments of his son. 

u You gave us quite a smart run down the lake 
this afternoon, Captain Alick,” said our host. 

“Your son says the Islander can beat us; and 
I wanted to know about it,” I answered, still 
studying the mu(J on his clothes. 

“ Does Lynch say that ? He is much mistaken. 
The Sylvania has the reputation of being the 
fastest boat of the two,” added the captain gra- 
ciously. “ And I think you got ahead of us this 
afternoon.” 

“ I think so too,” I replied confidently. 

“No doubt of it,” he added. 

But I was not much interested in the conversa- 
tion. I looked about the cabin for any thing that 
might add something to my knowledge of the 
situation. I particularly wondered where the 
valuable package was kept, for I was sure it was 
on board of the yacht. But I did not think it 
could be in the cabin. I spoke of the captain’s 
state-room, and asked if it was like the same 
apartment on board of the Sylvania. Our host an- 


206 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


swered that it was precisely the same thing ; and 
then he invited us to visit it. We followed him 
on deck, and into the room indicated. 

I glanced at the desk, which stood in the same 
relative position as my own. On the lid of it 
were some of those same stains of yellow mud. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVAN IA. 


207 




CHAPTER XX. 

THE BOOT ON THE OTHER LEG. 

~T~ WAS confident Captain Braceback did not sus- 
pect that those mud-stains had any relation to 
the stolen package ; and Lynch was no wiser than 
his father. If either of them had understood the 
matter, he would have taken a great deal of pains 
to efface the stains. I had no difficulty in com- 
ing to the conclusion that the package was in that 
desk ; not only because it was the most natural 
thing in the world for the robber to place it there, 
but because the mud-marks indicated that it had 
been laid upon the lid, probably while the pos- 
sessor unlocked the desk. 

Captain Braceback asked me a great many ques- 
tions, all of which were intended to lead me into 
making a charge against him of taking the pack- 
age, if I had missed it. I was determined not to 
afford him any information on the subject ; but, 
on the contrary, to let him suppose I had not dis- 


208 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


covered the loss. He wanted to know in particu- 
lar if I had been up to Mr. Brickland’s house after 
I landed at # tlie wharf. I replied that I had been 
up for some clothes ; and he seemed to be satis- 
fied, though he presently resumed the investiga- 
tion in another direction. 

“ Excuse me for five minutes,” said the captain, 
suddenly rising from his seat ; “ I want to see 
about the coaling.” 

He went out of the state-room ; but he had not 
been gone a moment before I had opened the desk, 
the key of which was in the lock. On the top of a 
bundle of papers in the large pigeon-hole on the 
left was the mud-stained package. I put it into 
my breast-pocket without the loss of an instant 
of time. I locked the desk as I had found it ; 
though I did not leave the key in the lock, but 
tossed it out the window into the lake. 

I had no further business on board of the Is- 
lander; and, without waiting for the return of 
Captain Braceback, I hastened upon the wharf. 
Elbe saw all that I had done ; and I perceived 
that he was very much agitated in view of the 
possible consequences of my bold act. 

“ Don’t be alarmed, Elbe : I will manage all 
this business,” I said to him in a low tone. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


209 


“ He will kill you for that,” exclaimed my 
friend. 

“He won’t know any thing about it till he 
breaks open the desk,” I replied, as I led the 
way back to the Sylvania. 

“ I am shaking all over, Alick,” added Ellie. 

“ Don’t shake any more : we have got the best 
of it just now. Hush up ! follow me in behind 
this pile of lumber.” 

Though it was rather dark, I could distinctly 
make out, in a form approaching us from the di- 
rection of the wharf where the Sylvania lay, the 
person of Captain Braceback. This was the rea- 
son why I suddenly changed my tone and the sub- 
ject of the conversation. It was plain enough to 
me that he had been to see the mate of the Sylva- 
nia. If he saw us, he took no notice of us ; and, 
when he had passed, we hastened on our way to 
the boat. When we reached the wharf, I was not 
a little astonished to see that our steamer was 
swinging her head off from the pier. 

“ Some trick here, Ellie ! ” I exclaimed, — 
“ hurry up ! ” 

I broke into a run, and my companion kept 
close to me. When we were half way down the 


210 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


wharf, I saw one of the shore-men cast off the 
stern-line of the Sylvania. At the same moment 
the gong rang, and the boat began to go ahead. 

“ Jump over the stern, Elbe ! be quick about 
it ! ” I said to my companion. 

It was not a long leap, and he made it without 
accident. I followed him ; but, as the boat was 
at this time some little distance from the pier, I 
caught only by the ends of my finger-nails., as it 
were, on the rail. With two inches more to over- 
come, I should have gone overboard ; and I should 
as it was, if Ellie had not taken one of my hands 
and assisted me. 

“Who’s there?” demanded Bob Washburn, as 
he came aft, whither his attention had been called 
by the yells of one of the coal-men. 

“ What’s going on here, Bob ? ” I asked, as soon 
as I could gain breath enough to enable me to 
speak. 

“ Why, is that you, Captain Alick ? ” demanded 
Bob, evidently very much astonished, though I 
could see no reason why he should be. 

“ Of course it is : who else should it be ? ” I in- 
quired. “ What’s up on board now ? ” 

“ I thought you were in the pilot-house. ” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


211 


“ How could I be in the pilot-house when I 
was on shore?” 

“ That’s what bothers me,” replied Bob, taking 
off his cap, and rubbing his head. “Lynch said 
you were in the pilot-house ; and that’s all I 
know about it.” 

“Never mind; go forward, and don’t say a 
word to the mate for a while,” I continued. 

“But what’s up, Captain Alick?” asked Bob 
curiously. 

“ I have been on board of the Islander ; and I sat 
talking with Captain Braceback, when he asked 
to be excused for a few minutes while he went 
to look out for the coaling of the vessel. It 
seems that he came over here, and told his son 
to start the Sylvania without me. That’s the 
whole of it; and Lynch was going to run away 
with the steamer, so as to help his father out 
with the job he has undertaken. But don’t say 
a word to Lynch: he still believes I am on 
shore.” 

Bob went forward ; and, as the mate was busy 
at the wheel, he had no chance to look about 
the vessel. He had no reason to suppose that 
his father’s trick was not an entire success. I 


212 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


did not exactly see how Lynch expected to get 
out of the scrape ; for he knew that all on board 
were my friends, and would be true to my 
interests. But I concluded that he did not care 
to get out of it. All he wanted was to give 
the Islander time to get a good start down the 
St. Clair. But I was perfectly satisfied with 
the course he was steering. 

“How are we coming out of this, Captain 
Alick?” asked Ellie, as soon as Bob had gone 
forward. 

“ It doesn’t make any difference how we come 
out, Ellie,” I replied, laughing. “Lynch thinks 
that you and I are on board of the Islander, 
and, I suppose, is waiting for Bob Washburn to 
discover that we are not on board of the Sylvania. 
I have no doubt he is prepared for the row that 
is likely to follow the discovery.” 

“ Why don’t you let him make the row after 
a while, just to see what he will do ? ” sug- 
gested Ellie, who had as much taste for fun as 
the average boy of his age. 

“ Good ! I am willing to try it on. Gopher 
has lighted up all the state-rooms, as usual ; and 
no one need know that we are not in them.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


213 


“ But Ben Bowman and Moses Brickland may 
miss you, and make the row before we are ready,” 
said Elbe. 

“ Bob can tell them and Professor Buckminister 
all about it. He will come aft soon, and I will 
post him up,” I replied. 

Just now I was exceedingly interested in the 
movements of the Islander. Both vessels had 
finished coaling about the time I left Captain 
Braceback’s state-room ; and there was no excuse 
for the Islander’s remaining any longer at the 
wharf. She did not remain any longer than was 
necessary to enable the Sylvania to get fairly past 
her berth. Though I did not know what tran- 
spired on board of her at the time, I learned all 
the particulars afterwards ; and, as they properly 
come in here, I will insert these details where they 
belong. 

Captain Braceback did not intend to be absent, 
when he left, for more than five minutes. Possi- 
bly that was time enough to enable him to visit 
the adjoining wharf, and say all he had to say to 
his son. When Elbe and I dodged behind the 
pile of lumber in the darkness, to avoid him, he 
was making fast time. Before he could get on 


214 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


board of the Islander lie saw that the Syl vania 
was backing against her stern-line to throw her 
head off from the pier ; and in another minute she 
was going ahead. At this moment Elbe and I 
jumped aboard of her. The mate was so busy 
looking out for the course of the boat that he had 
no thought for what was taking place at the stern. 

Captain Braceback believed that he was a very 
shrewd and cunning man; and I think he was 
more than half right. He rushed down to his 
craft, and quietly directed one of his deck-hands 
to cast off the bow-line. There was but one door 
to the state-room where he had entertained us ; 
and that opened from a little hall, which occupied 
the space not taken by the stairway leading down 
into the forward cabin. Passing into this entry 
from the main deck, the door on the left led into 
the pilot-house, and that on the right into the 
Captain’s state-room, precisely as it was on board 
of the Sylvania. 

When Captain Braceback went out of the room, 
leaving his visitors there, he closed the door be- 
hind him. The blinds of the two windows were 
closed ; so that no one on the deck, if there had been 
any person there, could have seen what I was 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 215 


doing. As I thought of it afterwards, I wondered 
he should have believed his guests, under the cir- 
cumstances, would remain there any great length 
of time. As soon as he stepped on board, he 
hastened to the little hall, and turned the key in 
the state-room door. 

As I told Ellie afterwards, I would have given 
something handsome to see Captain Braceback 
after he had turned that key. I have no doubt 
he rubbed his hands with delight, after the manner 
of the stage characters when they have done a 
shrewd thing. No doubt he felt like a hunter who 
has trapped a big wild animal. He was confident 
that he had me a prisoner, and very likely he 
intended to call it all a mistake when it suited his 
convenience to discover me locked into his room. 
At Detroit or at some other landing-place, he doubt- 
less meant to let me go ; but it would be at some 
point where I could not easily get back to the 
Sylvania. 

By the time he had “bagged his game,” as he 
supposed, the head of the Islander was well out 
from the wharf, and he gave the order to cast off 
the stern-line. The steamer stood off from the 
shore; and, with her helm hard a-port, she soon 


216 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


swung around so as to be headed down the river. 
I saw her do this part of her evening’s work ; and I 
understood the situation so well, I felt that I could 
almost hear the chuckle of the conspirator, as he 
started on his voyage down the river. 

As my informant, who was the acting mate of 
the Islander, told me, Captain Braceback was in 
the highest spirits. But when the steamer had 
gone five or six miles down the river, the captain 
opened the door leading to the little hall from the 
pilot-house. He seemed to be listening, and wait- 
ing for something; but nothing occurred to dis- 
turb him. There was no outcry from the state- 
room where Ellie and I were supposed to be pris- 
oners. At last the captain opened the door of the 
state-room, and found that it was empty. He 
could not tell his mate what he was dofng, but he 
seemed to be very much disconcerted. He looked 
at the desk, and then looked for the key. An 
hour later he broke open the desk : the mate saw 
him do this, but did not understand why he ha<i 
done it. 



Getting on Board the Sylvania Page 210. 































* . 





































































THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 217 


CHAPTER XXI. 

THE MATE ON WATCH. 

T SAW the Islander on her way down the river, 
and she soon disappeared from sight. I con- 
cluded, from the direction she had taken, that Cap- 
tain Braceback had not yet discovered that the 
package had again changed hands. He might 
think that he had locked the desk and mislaid the 
key. He might not think to break open the desk 
till the next day, or even till he reached his desti- 
nation, whatever it might be. 

While Bob Washburn was forward, I concluded 
that Elbe and I would be safer from observation 
in the cabin than on deck ; and we went below. By 
the telltale over the skylight, I saw that the Syl- 
vania was headed north by east. This course 
would take her to Cove-Island light, at the en- 
trance of Georgian Bay, one hundred and seventy 
miles from Port Huron. I supposed he had taken 
this course by direction of his father. 


218 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


While I was in the cabin, Professor Buckminster 
came out of his state-room ; and I took the oppor- 
tunity to tell him all that had happened. He did 
not take much interest in the affairs of the steamer; 
but he laughed heartily when I told him my story, 
and intimated that Lynch supposed I was on shore. 
He volunteered to call Moses, and to tell Ben Bow- 
man the state of the case. 

Later in the evening we had a visit from Bob 
Washburn, who had been on duty all the time 
since we saw him before. He had asked the mate’s 
permission to come below for his overcoat. Lynch 
had been at the wheel all the time ; Ben Bowman 
was on the bowsprit, keeping the lookout ; and 
Bob had spent his time in the pilot-house with the 
mate. 

“ Does Lynch say any thing, Bob ? ” I asked, as 
he stood at the door of the large state-room which 
was reserved for my use when I chose to occupy 
it. 

“He don’t say much,” replied Bob, laughing. 
“ He keeps wondering where Captain Alick is.” 

“ Where does he say I am?” I inquired. 

“ He says you are in your state-room ; and I 
noticed, as I came by the door, that it was locked. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


219 


I suppose he secured it in order to prevent any 
fellow from going in there to find out that you are 
not there,” added Bob, chuckling. 

“ All right ! Do you know where the key of 
my state-room is ? ” 

“ I haven’t the least idea, though I suppose it 
must be in Lynch’s pocket.” 

“ Can’t you get it by some means, Bob ? ” 

“I don’t see how I can. Of course Lynch is 
not going to let anybody open the door of that 
room till he is ready to have us know that Captain 
Alick is not on board of the Sylvania.” 

“ But there is another key : we have two for 
every lock on board. What did I do with, the 
other ? ” I continued, musing. “ Oh, I remember ! 
It hangs on a nail, on the casing by the side of 
the window on the starboard side.” 

I showed him how he could unfasten the blind 
on the outside with the aid of a stick, and obtain 
the key. He went on deck, and in a few minutes 
returned with the article. 

“ Now, Ellie, you can go to your state-room, and 
turn in,” I continued, preparing to take possession 
of my room on deck. 

“ But I want to see the fun when it comes off,” 
protested Ellie. 


220 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ Probably there won’t be any to-night. If I 
can get into my room without being seen, very 
likely Lynch will let me stay there all night ; for 
it is plain sailing, and the weather is all that can 
be desired.” 

“ I will tell you how you can get into the room, 
Captain Alick,” interposed Bob, rubbing his closely 
shaved head, as he was apt to do when he had a 
bright idea or when he was perplexed. 

“ What is it ? ” I asked. 

“ He told me to ask Gopher to have a lunch for 
him, as the captain evidently intends to keep him 
at the wheel all night. I will tell the steward to 
have the lunch on the cabin table ; and, while he 
is stowing it away, I shall be at the wheel, and }^ou 
can get into your room without any trouble.” 

“ All right ; but of course I must get out of the 
cabin before he comes down.” 

“ Certainly : you can hide in the engine-room.” 

In a few minutes the steward appeared with a 
tray bearing the lunch for the mate, which he 
arranged on the table. When he had done all, 
and looked the table over to assure himself that it 
was all right, he started up the ladder to call the 
mate. I followed him up the steps ; and, as he went 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


221 


to port, I took the starboard side. Moses gave me a 
hearty welcome to his quarters, and I concealed 
myself behind the boiler. I had a little talk with 
him, till the conversation was interrupted by the 
step of the mate on the deck. Lynch did not stop 
on the way to the cabin : very likely he was hun- 
gry, and thinking only of the needs of his stomach, 
though I am inclined to believe he was thinking 
more about me than he was of the needs of his 
inner man. 

“ The coast is all clear,” said Bob, as I showed 
myself at the door of the pilot-house. 

“ Does Lynch say any thing more about me ? ” 
asked. 

“Yes: he said he thought you must have gone 
to sleep. I told him he ought to call you,” replied 
Bob, with his gaze fixed upon the compass, like a 
good helmsman. 

“ What did he say to that ? ” 

“ He said he would not call you if you didn’t 
come out of your room till morning ; and I don’t 
believe he will. Then I asked him how he knew 
what course to steer. He answered that you had 
told him to keep her north by east; and that 
you said you were going to Lake Superior by the 


222 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


north passage, so as to make a good part of the 
trip among the islands to the north of Manitou- 
line.” 

“ He invented all that ; but of course he can’t 
carry on the game without a multitude of lies,” I 
added. 

“ How long will it be before we come up with 
the land on this tack, Captain Alick?” 

“ Seventeen hours from the time you left Port 
Huron, at our usual rate of speed, which is about 
ten miles an hour.” 

“ All right : then we shall not go ashore in the 
night, if the mate should leave me at the wheel 
while he takes his nap.” 

“ It is plain sailing : keep her north by east, 
and you won’t be up with the land till about two 
o’clock to-morrow afternoon.” 

I deemed it prudent by this time to unlock my 
door, and go into my state-room. The light by 
the desk and chart-table was burning, and the 
room was as cheerful as 1 had always found it; 
and I am free to say it was “ the dearest spot on 
earth to me.” The chart of Lake Huron, which I 
had laid out on the table in the afternoon, was 
not where I had left it. I concluded that Lynch 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


223 


had taken it out of my room for use during the 
night. I did not want it just then ; and as the 
mate had taken upon himself the navigation of 
the steamer for the next few hours, be it more or 
less, I was glad he had taken the precaution to 
secure the chart. 

Nearly one-half of the door of my room was a 
blind, with close slats, for the better ventilation 
of the apartment. When I heard the step of the 
mate on the deck outside, I seated myself in a 
chair near this blind. I wanted to hear what 
was done and said. The door of the pilot-house 
was generally fastened open, as I noticed that it 
was when I was talking with Bob at the wheel. 

“ I feel better, Bob,” said Lynch as he entered 
the pilot-house. “ A lunch at this hour, when a 
fellow is to sit up all night, makes him wide 
awake.” 

“ How do you know you are to sit up all night ? 
That isn’t the way they do on board ship, I be- 
lieve,” replied Bob. “ The captain will not sleep 
all night, if he is asleep now.” 

“ But Captain Alick told me he was tired out, 
completely used up, and he thought he should 
turn in and sleep all night after we got on this 


224 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


tack,” continued Lynch, who had evidently made 
up his mind not to let my absence be discovered 
till the next morning. 

“ Is that so ? I haven’t seen him since we left 
Port Huron. I supposed he would divide the 
hands into watches, and let us know who were to 
sit up all night, if any, and who were to relieve 
those on duty. By the way, where is Ellie Dyke- 
man ? I haven’t seen him either since we sailed 
from the river.” 

“Very likely he has turned in also,” replied 
Lynch. “ The fellows got up very early in the 
morning, and I don’t blame them for being 
sleepy,” replied the^ mate, with proper considera- 
tion for those under him. 

“ But we ought to have some arrangements for 
the night,” suggested Bob, who was evidently en- 
joying himself by exercising the inventive ability 
of the mate. 

“We can get along well enough for to-night 
without any arrangements. We have nothing to 
do but steer the boat ; and you and I can do that 
as well as half a dozen fellows, and have all the 
fun to ourselves,” said Lynch. “You can take a 
nap now for a couple of hours, and then relieve 
me.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


225 


“ But I don’t like this way of doing things ; 
and I think I will call Captain Alick,” Bob re- 
plied, simply to torture the mate. 

“ Don’t do it ! ” 

“ He won’t like it if we don’t call him ; for I’m 
sure he didn’t mean to sleep all night,” persisted 
Bob, as he rose from his seat, and I heard him 
moving towards the door. 

“ Stop, Bob ! I am the mate of this steamer, 
and I tell you not to call the captain. If he 
don’t come out before midnight, I will see about 
calling him. He told me he did not wish to be 
waked up after he got asleep.” 

“ Did he tell you so ? ” 

“ Of course he did.” 

“ I don’t believe it.” 

“Do you think I would lie about it ? ” de- 
manded the mate indignantly. 

“ I didn’t know but you might be telling fibs 
for the fun of it,” said Bob. “ I will ask him in 
the morning if he said that to you.” 

“You can ask him when you see him. Now 
camp down on the floor, and go to sleep, Bob.” 

“ I can’t sleep on this hard floor. I think I will 
go down to my room, and turn in, ship-shape and 
Bristol style.” 


226 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


“ That won’t do ; for I should be left alone on 
deck.” 

“Then I will call Ellie. If he has slept a 
couple of hours, he will be all right to take his 
trick at the wheel.” 

“ Don’t call anybody: we are all right, Bob. If 
you can make up your bed on deck, so that I can 
call you in case any thing should happen, you 
may sleep all night with the rest of them.” 

“Well, I will see what I can do,” answered 
Bob, yawning. “ I will go down into the cabin, 
and take a lunch. Perhaps that will wake me 
up.” 

He went, and all was still in the pilot-house. I 
lay down in my berth then, and before I was 
aware of it I dropped asleep. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


227 


CHAPTER XXII. 

BOUND FOR SAGINAW BAY. 

S Lynch Braceback had suggested, I was 



tired enough to turn in and sleep all night. 
In fact, I did, after eleven o’clock, just what he 
charged me with doing, — slept like a log, without 
a thought of the safety of the vessel. But then, 
with Moses Brickland at the engine, and the 
vessel headed away from the shore, there was no 
possible danger to be encountered. 

When I woke, the thought that I was the cap- 
tain of that steamer suddenly forced itself upon 
my mind, and I leaped from my berth. I was 
startled by the reflection that I had been guilty 
of a neglect of duty in sleeping away the whole 
night, as though I had been a passenger. It was 
a moment before the situation in which I had left 
things when I turned in came to my mind. Then 
it occurred to me that I was making more noise 
than was necessary, and I went to the door. 


228 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“Is that you, Captain Alick?” called Bob 
Washburn, who had evidently heard me when I 
leaped out of my berth. 

“Yes: how are things this morning?” I re- 
plied. 

“ J ust as we left them last night. Lynch turned 
in at two o’clock this morning ; and, as he didn’t 
like the soft side of a pine board, he went down to 
his state-room in the cabin. He told me, if any 
thing happened, to ring the gong to stop her, and 
that would wake him up,” continued Bob. “I 
was just going in to call you ; for there is a 
steamer to the southward of us.” 

“ How far off?” I asked with interest. 

“ I should say that she was ten miles distant. 
I have just examined her with the glass, and she 
looks like the Islander,” replied Bob. 

“ I expected to hear from her this morning. 
Captain Braceback has broken open the desk in 
his state-room, and made a discovery,” I contin- 
ued, as I unlocked the door of the room, and 
joined Bob in the pilot-house. “ Where is the 
chart?” 

He pointed to it, on the shelf forward of the 
wheel. I unrolled it, and proceeded to lay down 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


229 


the position of the steamer by the dead reckoning. 
Our usual speed was ten miles an hour, a rate 
which provided for an economical expenditure of 
coal. This was fast enough, though the Syl vania 
could make twelve every hour in the day ; but it 
required about a third as much more coal to ob- 
tain the additional two miles as for the first ten. 

We were about twenty-five miles from the 
shore on either side, and we had made sixty miles 
since the boat left Port Huron. I looked through 
the glass at the steamer astern of us ; and, though 
I could but just make her out, I was confident it 
was the Islander. Perhaps I should not have been 
so sure if I had not expected her about this time, 
as the almanac says. 

“ Make the course north-west by north, Bob,” I 
continued, after I had finished and verified my 
calculations. 

“ North-west by north,” repeated the helmsman. 
“ I’ll bet Lynch Braceback will be as mad as a hat- 
ter when he turns out, and looks at the telltale in 
the cabin.” 

“Very likely; but he will have time enough to 
cool off in the course of the day,” I replied, laugh- 
ing with Bob at the fun in prospect. “ You gape 
as though you were sleepy, Bob,” 


230 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ I am. I haven’t slept more than three hours ; 
and I am not used to that sort of thing,” replied 
the wheelman, with another long gape. 

“ I will take the wheel while you call Ellie : he 
has had a good long nap, and is in condition to 
take the wheel for a few hours.” 

I took the helm, and Bob went for Ellie. 
While he was gone I examined the new situation. 
“ The boot was on the other leg ” now, and the 
Islander was chasing the Sylvania. Captain 
Braceback had discovered the loss of the valuable 
package, which was to be a fortune to him in the 
future, and to obtain which he had been plotting 
all winter and all the spring. I could not ex- 
actly understand what he expected to do if he 
overtook me ; for certainly he could not claim 
that the package belonged to him, even if he 
could prove that I had taken it from the desk in 
his room. 

The captain was a desperate man ; and it was 
safer to keep out of his way than it was to attempt 
to resist him if he once obtained a foothold on the 
deck of the Sylvania. I had no doubt that if he 
came up with the Sylvania in a convenient place, 
such as many of the solitudes of the upper lakes 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 231 

afforded, he would not scruple to run her down, 
to board and search her, or to resort to any vio- 
lent steps that would enable him to recover posses- 
sion of the treasure. As I thought of the matter, 
I did not care to encounter him in the wilds of 
Manitouline Island or on the shores of Lake 
Superior. 

I had changed the course of the steamer so 
that she was now headed directly for the De- 
tour Passage, between Drummond Island and the 
main shore of the upper peninsula of Michigan. 
From this strait it was only fifty miles to Lake 
Superior. But I was not particularly pleased 
with the idea of being chased by the Islander, 
and of being in danger of assault or capture all 
the time. The treasure was locked up in my 
desk, and I was not willing to run any risk of 
losing it again. 

While I was thinking of the matter Elbe took 
the wheel, and I made another examination of 
our pursuer. I found that the Islander had al- 
ready changed her course to correspond with that 
of the Sylvania. Captain Braceback was evi- 
dently wide awake at that early hour of the morn- 
ing. The clouds of dense black smoke above and 


232 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


behind the Islander indicated that they were driv- 
ing her; and I felt that it was time something 
was done on our boat. Before I left the pilot- 
house I glanced at the chart again. 

“ The Islander is after us, isn’t she ? ” asked 
Ellie, with a long gape. 

“She is; and of course, after what happened 
last night, I expected her,” I replied. 

“ You have your package, and you don’t care 
for her,” added Ellie. 

“ But I do care for her. You don’t suppose 
Captain Braceback has been looking for that 
package all winter to be ready to give it up now, 
do you ? ” 

“Well, he can’t help himself. You have the 
treasure ; and that’s the end of it.” 

“ Perhaps not. Suppose he should catch us at 
anchor in some unfrequented part of the lake. 
Do you suppose he would make any bones of com- 
ing on board the Sylvania, and taking the pack- 
age if he could find it ? ” 

“ You mustn’t let him find it, Captain Alick.” 

“ If it were on board, I don’t see how I could 
help myself. He would turn the vessel inside out 
to find it. I wish it was in some safe place.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE S YL VANIA. 


238 


Just then it occurred to me that I might find a 
safer place than the steamer for it. I had been 
up Saginaw Bay several times, and I felt quite at 
home in that part of the lake. I had been to the 
bank in Bay City with Captain Boomsby ; and I 
thought that the treasure would be safer there 
than in my desk. But I did not exactly like the 
idea of leaving it there. My old enemy lived 
near ; and, if he found by any mishap that I had 
something in the bank, he might put in his claim 
to be my guardian again. 

“ One thing is certain, Elbe,” I continued, after 
I had mused a while : “ it won’t do for us to be 
caught in any out-of-the-way place with that pack- 
age on board.” 

“You don’t think Captain Braceback would 
take it from you by force, do you ? ” asked Ellie. 

“ I know he would, if he got the chance ; and I 
must take care not to give him the opportunity. 
While the Islander is near, I shall keep the Sylva- 
nia in the regions of civilization. Make the course 
west-north-west, Ellie.” 

“ Where are you going now? ” 

“ Up Saginaw Bay.” 

“ West-north-west it is,” replied Ellie, as he 


234 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


changed the course of the steamer to the direc- 
tion indicated. “ I never went up that bay ; and I 
should like to see what there is up there.” 

“ I would rather have it out up there than in a 
more lonely place,” I replied, as I left the pilot- 
house. 

I made my way to the engine-room, where I 
found Ben Bowman on duty. In reply to my 
question as to how fast the boat was going, he 
said she was doing her ten miles an hour, as indi- 
cated by the number of revolutions made by the 
crank in a minute. 

“She don’t vary ten feet from it in an hour 
when the wind is light, as it is this morning,” 
added Ben. 

“I want you to give her another mile to the 
hour,” I continued. 

“ I can give her two if you wish it.” 

“ Only one.” 

It was not my intention to run away from the 
Islander, only to keep at a respectful distance 
from her. Before I left the engine-room, I saw a 
Railroad Guide on the seat, which belonged to 
Moses Brickland. I picked it up, for it suggested 
an idea to me. I carried it into my state-room, 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


235 


and studied it attentively for half an hour. My 
mind was made up as to what I should do with 
the package. 

The morning passed off without any incident 
till about six o’clock, when the light on Point 
Aux Barques was in sight on the port bow. The 
Islander had promptly changed her course the sec- 
ond time when the Sylvania did so. This altera- 
tion had given the Islander all the advantage, and 
at six o’clock she was within three miles of the 
Sylvania. As she was evidently making about 
twelve miles an hour, while we were doing but 
eleven, it was plain enough that she would over- 
haul us in three hours, unless we gave our boat 
more steam. 

I went to the engine-room to attend to this 
matter, and found that Moses had just turned out. 
I told him what I wanted, and he at once began to 
shovel the coal into the furnaces. Then I went 
astern to take a look at the pursuer. As I came 
to the companion-way I heard Lynch Braceback 
talking rather loud to Bob Washburn, who had 
gone to sleep in one of the berths in the cabin. 

“ What does all this mean ? ” demanded the 
mate angrily. 


236 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ What mean ? ” inquired Bob, who did not 
seem to be more than half awake. 

“ What are you doing here, when I left you in 
charge of the wheel ? ” 

“ I felt as though I needed a little sleep,” pleaded 
Bob. 

“Who has changed the course of the boat?” 
demanded Lynch; and, as I looked through the 
skylight into the cabin, I saw that he was examin- 
ing the telltale. 

“ How is she headed ? ” asked Bob innocently. 

“ West-north- west.” 

“ Is that so ? I don’t know who did that,” pro- 
tested Bob, with entire truth. “ I think we had 
better go to the pilot-house, and see about it.” 

The mate had not finished dressing himself; 
and I concluded to be in the pilot-house when he 
and Bob went there to see about it. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVAHIA. 


237 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

A NIGHT TRIP TO MONTOMERCY. 

~T~ SAW that Bob Washburn anticipated some 
fun, and he was wide awake by this time. I 
told Ellie that the mate was coming ; and I as- 
sured him Lynch would be the most astonished 
mate on the lake when he did come. 

“No doubt he thinks you and I are still at 
Point Huron, looking out for a passage in some 
steamer bound to the north,” I added, laughing. 

“ But he can see the Islander only three miles 
astern of us,” suggested Ellie. 

“ He won’t be likely to notice her at first, for 
there are several vessels coming up from the south- 
ward,” I replied. 

I seated myself in the corner of the pilot-house, 
where the mate could not see me at first, and 
waited for him to make his appearance. But Bob 
came first. 

“ He’s coming ! ” said Bob impressively, as he 


238 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


entered the pilot-house. “Where are you going 
now? ” 

“ Up Saginaw Bay,” I replied. “ The Islander 
is after us: she has been chasing us since four 
o’clock this morning. You may take the wheel, 
Bob. — Ellie, come over here.” 

I placed him by my side, so that the mate 
would not be likely to notice us when he came in. 
By this time Moses had got up more steam, and 
the Sylvania was shaking under the increased 
pressure. 

“What does all this mean? ” demanded Lynch, 
rushing into the pilot-house. “ The course I gave 
you was north by east when I turned in. Who 
has changed it ? ” 

“ The captain of the Sylvania, I suppose,” re- 
plied Bob, chuckling at the situation. 

“Good-morning, Lynch,” I interposed at this 
moment, as the mate turned his eyes in the direc- 
tion where I was seated. “ How do you find your- 
self this morning ? ” 

He started as though he had been shot. 

“ What, Captain Alick ! are you here ? ” ex- 
claimed Lynch, falling back as though a ghost had 
suddenly appeared to him. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


239 


“ Of course I’m here : where else should I be ? ” 
I replied, laughing. 44 4 When duty calls we’re 
wide awake, early in the morning. ’ ” 

I was not much of a singer; but my song 
seemed to fit the occasion in this instance. The 
mate stared at me, and then at Ellie. Neither of 
us had any business to be on board of the Sylva- 
nia when Lynch and his father had plotted to 
keep us on board of the Islander. 

44 1 thought you were asleep in your state-room. 
You didn’t give me any orders to wake you 
during the night, and so I didn’t disturb you,” 
stammered Lynch, seeing that his unfortunate 
exclamation had committed him. 

“You didn’t expect me to sleep all day, did 
you?” I replied. 44 1 turned out at four o’clock 
in the morning, and have been on deck two 
hours now.” 

“I see you have changed the course, Captaii 
Alick,” said the mate, looking into the binnacle 
“I didn’t give out any course last night aftei 
we left Port Huron. But then, Lynch, I was 
aware that you knew all about the lakes, and it 
was not necessary to give one out when you were 
on board.” 


240 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


Ellie and Bob both laughed heartily at the way 
I was managing the situation. The mate was so 
confused and confounded by my appearance on 
board when I ought to have been down in St. 
Clair Lake by this time, that he hardly knew 
what to say. 

44 You did not come into the pilot-house after 
we left port last night, and I concluded that you 
had gone to sleep in your room. But you had 
spoken of going to Lake Superior by the way of 
Georgian Bay and the north passage, and I 
thought I would head her in that direction.' ” 

44 Oh ! it was all right, Lynch. I don’t find any 
fault: you managed it first-rate. But you came 
very near leaving Ellie and me on the wharf at 
Port Huron last night.” 

44 1 did ! ” exclaimed Lynch. 

44 1 suppose you started the boat before we got 
on board. I know I didn’t give any orders to 
start her. However, it is all right. I like to have 
the fellows prompt in getting under way.” 

“But I thought you were in your state-room 
all the time,” protested the mate. “I say, Bob 
Washburn, didn’t I tell you that Captain Alick 
was in his room just after we started ? ” 



The JSukekise in the Pilpt-House. Pasre 238. 

























THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


241 


“ Of course you did ; and you knew he was 
there, every time,” replied Bob. 

“ Of course I knew he was there if I told you 
he was. There wasn’t any need of lying about 
it.” 

“Certainly not; no need of lying about it at 
all. I knew the captain was in his state-room,” 
continued Bob, doing his best to worry the be- 
wildered mate. “I saw him there while you 
were taking your lunch in the cabin.” 

Lynch saw that he was the victim of some kind 
of a conspiracy ; but he could not understand it, 
and therefore he was afraid to say much more. 

“I must say, Lynch, that I don’t believe in 
your starting the boat without any orders to do 
so from the captain,” I continued seriously. 

“ I didn’t mean to do any thing that was not 
right ” — 

“ Of course you didn’t ! ” I added with em- 
phasis. “ If a fellow means right, not much fault 
ought to be found with him ; and for that reason 
I only remarked, in the gentlest possible manner, 
that I did not believe in the mate’s starting the 
6^at without an order from the captain.” 

“I don’t believe in it either; but then, I am 


242 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


rather new to this business of being a mate. I 
was saying I didn’t mean to do any thing that 
was not right. After we had finished taking in 
the coal, I went on board, and into the pilot- 
house. I didn’t think you wanted to stay there 
all night, and so I told Bob to cast off the bow- 
line : didn’t I, Bob ? 

“Not the least doubt of it, Lynch; and, as I 
would as soon think of jumping overboard in a 
dark night as of disobeying an order given me by 
the mate, I cast off the bow-line,” replied Bob. 

“ Then I backed her. I knew you were in your 
state-room all the time, Captain Alick, and, if 
you objected, you would let me know. I confess 
that I didn’t think any thing about the order 
from you. It seemed to me to be a matter of 
course, that when we had taken in the coal we 
were to go ahead again.” 

“Not without an order from the captain, if the 
boat had staid there all night.” 

“ I understand that now ; and of course I shall 
never start her again without an order. As soon 
as her head was pointed out into the river, I sent 
Bob aft to see that the stern-line was cast off: 
didn’t I, Bob?” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


243 


“No doubt of it, Lynch; and, after you had 
rang her ahead, I had just time to pull Captain 
Alick and Ellie on board,” added Bob. 

“ I thought Captain Alick was in his state-room. 
I didn’t see hinT after he gave me the money to 
pay for the coal,” persisted the mate. 

“No: he didn’t go to his state-room till you 
went below for your lunch.” 

“But didn’t you see your father last evening, 
Lynch?” I asked in a careless way. 

“ Just for a minute : he came on the wharf 
while I was paying the man for the coal.” 

“ Then you didn’t see so much of him as I did ; 
for I made him a call, and was very handsomely 
treated on board of the Islander. He was very 
polite, and asked to be excused for five min- 
utes; and I suppose that was the time when he 
came over to see you.” 

“ He said you had called upon him,” replied the 
mate, now knowing what it was prudent for him 
to say. 

“ Did he tell you where he was going with the 
Islander ? ” 

“ He said he was going back to Lake Erie. He 
gave it up that the Sylvania had beaten his boat. 


244 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


He left tlie wharf about the time we did, and 
went down the river.” 

“I think he didn’t go far,” I added, satisfied 
by this time that Lynch had not discovered the 
Islander astern of us. 

“ He is in Detroit River by this time.” 

“ I think not,” I answered, pointing out of the 
rear windows of the pilot-house at the other 
steamer. “ There she is ; and she has been chas- 
ing us since four o’clock this morning. ” 

“What in the world does that mean?” And 
I had no doubt that the mate was thoroughly as- 
tonished to see his father’s steamer so near us. 

“Probably your father has concluded that he 
would like to try the speed of the Sylvania 
again,” I replied. 

“ Why should he do that when he admits that 
we can beat him ? ” 

“Your father knows what he is about; and 
when you see him he will explain his actions to 
you,” I added, willing to drop the subject here. 

I left the pilot-house, followed by Ellie. Moses 
Brickland had increased the speed of the steamer 
till it was evident to me that the Islander was no 
longer gaining upon us. She followed us into 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


245 


Saginaw Bay, and at one o’clock the Sylvania 
went into the river. I had the wheel, and Ellie 
and Bob were with me in the pilot-house. 

“ I shall anchor in the river off Bay City,” I 
said, “ and you will remain there all night.” 

“ What for ? ” asked Ellie. 

“ I shall take the train which leaves this place 
at about two o’clock for Detroit. You will not 
hint at what I am about to any one on board,” I 
continued. “I will not take the risk of having 
that package on board any longer. If I do, I am 
afraid it will be taken from me by force before we 
return from Lake Superior.” 

“But suppose the Islander should come up as 
soon as you are gone ? Captain Braceback may 
take a notion to something here,” suggested he. 

“ No : he won’t meddle with us here.” 

I was confident on this point. Off the town I 
anchored the Sylvania; and a boat in charge of 
Ellie put me on shore. I had transferred the 
precious package from the desk to my breast- 
pocket. It was time for the Islander to appear if 
she was coming up the river ; but she was not yet 
to be seen. I discovered soon after I got on shore 
that she had anchored in the bend of the river, a 
mile below the town. 


246 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


I reached the train ii^ time to start for Detroit, 
but I did not go to that city. At the Grand 
Trunk junction I changed cars, and arrived at 
Montomercy at a few minutes after seven in the 
evening. Taking a carriage at the station, I 
reached Mr. Brickland’s house in fifteen minutes 
more. The good man was astonished to see me ; 
but it did not take ten minutes for me to tell my 
story, and put the package into his hands. He 
promised that it should be safely kept this time ; 
and the next day he found a secure place for it in 
Detroit. 

The carriage waited for me at the door, for the 
train started at ten minutes past nine for the 
junction. Here I found a sleeping-car ; and, 
having disposed of the package, I slept like a log 
till the porter called me at half-past seven in the 
morning. At eight I went on board of the Syl- 
vania. 


t 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


247 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ENEMY. 

T HAD been absent seventeen hours. I was 
warmly greeted by my friends on board of 
the Syl vania. Lynch looked at me with a kind 
of suspicious aspect, as though he wondered 
what I was about all this time on shore; for I 
don’t think he had any idea that I had been to 
Montomercy and back. 

“Is every thing all right?” asked Ellie, after 
he had given me a cordial welcome on board. 

“ All right with me : how is it here ? ” I 
replied. 

“Every thing has been as quiet as a tomb 
since you left. Bob and I have been on the 
watch all the time. Of course you saw the 
Islander before you left. She anchored where 
she is now just as you went on shore. I had 
hardly returned with the boat, and had it hoisted 
up to the davits, when I saw Captain Braceback 


248 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


go on shore. He waited on the wharf all the 
afternoon, with an eye on the Sylvania. At 
dark he returned to his steamer. I think it is 
very likely he had us watched all night.” 

“Has Lynch been out of the steamer?” I 
asked. 

“Not for a moment; and no one from the 
Islander has been near us,” replied Ellie. 

“I don’t quite understand it,” I continued, 
musing on what my friend had told me. 

“I don’t believe Captain Braceback knows 
that you went on shore. That’s the only way 
I can explain his actions. If he had known 
you were on shore, he would not have watched 
on the wharf all the afternoon.” 

“ I should think not.” 

“The Islander did not come to anchor in the 
river till you had left the Sylvania.” 

“ But Captain Braceback must have seen your 
boat when you returned from the shore,” I sug- 
gested. 

“I don’t believe he did. I think I was on 
board, and the boat hoisted up, by the time 
the Islander had her anchor down. You know 
you hurried off, the moment the screw stopped, 
in order to catch the train.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


249 


“Didn’t Lynch say any thing?” 

“Not a word. I think he was asleep all the 
afternoon.” 

“I wonder that Captain Braceback has not 
been on board, or that Lynch did not go down 
the river to see his father.” 

“ Lynch did ask this morning where you had 
been all night ; and Bob told him he thought 
you had gone to see your friends. Captain 
Boomsby lives somewhere in this part of the 
State, I believe you said.” 

“ Yes ; but I don’t go to see the Boomsbys 
much,” I replied, laughing. 

My breakfast was waiting for me in the cabin, 
and I directed the mate to get the anchor up 
while I was attending to it. In accordance with 
the orders I had left the day before, Moses had 
a full head of steam on. As soon as I had fin- 
ished my morning meal, I hastened to the pilot- 
house. By this time the boat was ready to go 
ahead, and I struck the bell. Having secured 
the anchor, Lynch took his place at the heel 
of the bowsprit, while Ellie and Bob joined me 
at the wheel. 

“The Islander is getting up her anchor,” said 


250 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


Ellie, as the Sylvania began to move down the 
river. 

“ I see she is,” I replied. “ I suppose she will 
chase us all day, as she did yesterday: but the 
package is in a safe place, and I shall not hurry 
the boat.” 

Before we reached the berth of the Islander 
she was in motion ; and it was evident that her 
anchor had been hove up to a short stay before 
we got under way. She ran down the river at 
full speed, for her captain was more familiar 
with the navigation than I was. I followed him 
out into Saginaw Bay ; but he soon reduced his 
speed, so that the Sylvania came up with him 
about a mile from the light at the mouth of the 
river. At this point the Islander stopped her 
screw. I headed the Sylvania to the west, so as 
to give her a wide berth; but she immediately 
started again in the same direction, with the evi- 
dent intention of cutting us off. 

“What does she mean by that?” I mused, 
when the Islander had placed herself directly 
across our course. 

“She means to stop us,” replied Ellie. 

“She won’t do it just } r et,” I added, as I 
changed the course to the eastward. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 251 


As soon as our vessel was fairly headed on her 
new course, the other began to back, and suc- 
ceeded in keeping in our track. I ran on till 
our craft was within a hundred feet of the 
Islander. Then I rang to stop and back her in 
season to avoid a collision. Was it possible that 
Captain Braceback intended to prevent the Syl- 
vania from going down the bay? 

“Sylvania, ahoy!” shouted Captain Braceback 
from the waist of the Islander. 

“ On board the Islander ! ” I replied. 

“ I want to see you for a few minutes, Captain 
Alick,” continued the captain of the Islander. 

“ All right : here lam!” I called back. 

“ Come on board of the Islander.” 

“ No, I thank you ; ” and I had no idea of being 
locked into a state-room again. 

“ Hold on a minute, and I will go on board of 
the Sylvania,” he added. 

I was not afraid of him, now that the package 
was no longer in my state-room. But I was deter- 
mined to be very prudent ; and I waited till the 
crew of the Islander had lowered the boat into the 
water. I made up my mind on the instant, if 
Captain Braceback attempted to come on board of 


252 


LAKE BREEZES; OR. 


the vessel with two or three men, that I would not. 
wait for him. 

Are you going to wait for him, Captain 
Alick?” asked Ellie. 

“ If he comes alone, I will : if two or three 
come with him, I shall keep out of his way,” I 
replied. 

“Three men are getting into the boat,” said 
Ellie, with some excitement in his manner. 

I rang the bell to back her ; for I realized that 
three men, if they were disposed to be ugly, as 1 
knew Captain Braceback was, could even capture 
the Sylvania, for we had no fighting material on 
board. I was not willing to risk a combat, for it 
was safer to run than it was to fight. 

“ What are you about ? ” yelled Captain Brace- 
back, when he saw that the Sylvania was in 
motion again. 

I made no reply, but kept the steamer backing 
towards the mouth of the river. It was easy 
enough to keep out of the 'way of the boat; 
and, when I had placed a reasonable distance 
between the Sylvania and the pursuers, I stopped 
her screw, and started her ahead. But, as soon 
as the people in charge of the Islander saw 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


253 


her going to the west again, they proceeded to 
head me off once more. 

“ Why don’t you stop her ? ” demanded Cap- 
tain Braceback as we passed near the small boat. 

“ I don’t want to see more than one of you at a 
time,” I replied. 

“ What are you afraid of? But hold on, and I 
will go on board of you alone,” added the captain. 

The Islander was right in my path, and I had to 
stop the boat ; but I backed her again, so that the 
boat with the three men could not board the Syl- 
vania. 

It looked to me just then as though we were to 
keep vibrating like a pendulum all day, waiting 
for a chance to get by the other steamer. But 
the small boat ran up to the Islander, and the two 
men with Captain Braceback left him, and went 
on board of her. 

“ I am alone now ! ” shouted the captain. 

I rang to stop the screw. 

“I don’t believe he means any harm,” said Elbe. 

“ I don’t know that he does ; but it’s best to be 
on the safe side,” I replied. “ The Islander has 
two boats on her quarters, as well as the Sylvania ; 
and, Ellie, I want you to keep your eye on that 


254 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


other boat at the starboard quarter of the Islander. 
You can see it, can’t you ? ” 

“ I can.” 

“ If the hands on board of her attempt to lower 
it into the water, start the Sylvania, and head her 
to the westward.” 

“I see,” replied Ellie as he placed himself at 
the wheel. 

I had backed the boat so that she was headed 
in the direction indicated. I was just thinking 
that I might take a more decided step than had 
before occurred to me. I could run into the river 
again, and at Bay City charge my pursuer with 
the crime of stealing the package from the cellar 
of Mr. Brickland. But I was not sure that I 
could accomplish any thing in the absence of my 
guardian, as Captain Braceback was doubtless 
well known in that part of the State. But, before 
I could settle my mind on this question, Captain 
Braceback came alongside in the boat. Ben Bow- 
man rigged the steps for him to come on deck, 
and I was on the quarter-deck to receive him as 
soon as he came over the rail. 

“I am glad to see you, Captain Alick; ” and 
the face of the robber was covered with smiles. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


255 


“ I should like to know by what right you place 
your steamer in the path of the Sylvania,” I replied 
with the question that was uppermost in my mind. 

“ I meant no harm : I only wanted to speak with 
you about a little matter,” added the captain as 
gently as a lamb, and not at all like the lion I had 
taken him to be. 

“ If I can be of any service to you, you have 
only to say what it is.” 

“ Suppose we walk into your state-room.” 

“ Certainly, if you desire it ; ” and I led the 
way, for I could not afford to be less polite than 
he had been to me when I visited his steamer. 

I gave him a chair, and wondered if he really 
had any business with me. He seated himself 
with great deliberation, and looked as pleasant as 
though I had been his best friend on earth. 

“ I was going to ask you about a little matter 
on board of the Islander the other night ; but I 
forgot the name of the man I wished to inquire 
about, and I went out to ask what it was. When 
I came back, you had gone.” 

“ I waited till I thought the Sylvania had fin- 
ished coaling, and then left,” I answered. 

“ I want to ask you about a man I think you 


256 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


know very well,” continued the captain, taking a 
memorandum-book from his pocket. “ His name 
is Boomsby.” 

“ Captain Boomsby ! I knew him altogether 
too well,” I added. 

“What sort of a man is he, Captain Alick? 
Is he an honest man ? ” demanded my visitor. 

“ I don’t think he is,” I answered bluntly. 

“You don’t think so: well, that’s bad,” con- 
tinued the inquirer, shaking his head as though I 
had given him a piece of bad news. “ I never like 
to deal with any but honest men.” 

“ Nor I either,” I added heartily. 

“ Then we are agreed on that point. But I want 
to see this Boomsby. We were thinking of going 
into a little speculation in a steamer ; or, at least, 
he wrote to me about the matter. I got his letter 
at Port Huron, where all my mail was forwarded 
to me. But I did not open it till late in the even- 
ing, when we were on the way down the St. Clair 
Biver. As soon as I saw what it was, I put back ; 
and have come up to Saginaw to see him. I don’t 
know just where he lives.” 

At this moment the gong sounded to go ahead- 



Cart. Braceback wants to see Cart. Aeick. Page 252. 


































































































































THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


257 


CHAPTER XXV. 

A CLOSE SHAYE. 

HAT does that mean? ” demanded Cap- 



tain Braceback, as he sprang to his 


feet when he felt the motion of the Sylvania. 

“It means that the people on board of the 
Islander are getting out the other boat ; and I ex- 
pect more visitors than I wish to see on her deck 
to-day,” I replied. 

“ Is that all ? ” added the captain with a smile. 

“That’s all.” 

“But am I to understand that you intend to 
carry me off in the Sylvania ? ” 

“You may get into your boat whenever you 
wish to do so : I will stop long enough for you to 
do that,” I answered. 

My visitor went out upon deck. By this time 
the boat from the Islander was in the water, and 
pulling towards the Sylvania. Ellie rang the 
speed-bell, and the steamer began to rush through 


258 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


the water. At the same time the Islander went 
ahead; and the two steamers were nearly abreast 
of each other. 

“ Return with that boat, and hoist it up at the 
davits ! ” shouted Captain Braceback. 

The men obeyed ; and, as soon as they put about, 
I rang to stop the engine of the Sylvania. 

“ That makes it all right, Captain Alick,” said 
my visitor, as he led the way back to my room. 

“ That makes it all right,” I added. 

“What makes you so suspicious of me, my 
man ? ” asked the captain as he seated himself 
very near my desk. 

“Because you have so much yellow mud on 
your garments, and because I saw some of the 
same yellow mud on the top of your desk on 
board of the Sylvania,” I answered ; and I thought 
both of us had been beating about the bush long 
enough. 

“Yellow mud? what has that to do with the 
matter ? ” he asked, glancing at the yellow stains 
which clung to his pants and vest. 

“ Sometimes I don’t like to see yellow mud on 
a man’s clothes. I saw it on Lynch’s pants and 
vest as soon as I came on board at Montomercy.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


259 


“But I don’t understand you,” pleaded the 
captain. 

“ I am sorry you don’t ; but I don’t like people 
with yellow mud on their garments. That’s all : 
I need not say any more.” 

“You are a queer fellow; and, if I didn’t know 
you pretty well, I should say that you were crazy,” 
continued the captain, with a sickly smile. 

“ A free country, and every man has a right to 
his own opinion.” 

“ I didn’t notice that mud on my clothes before 
you spoke of it,” continued the visitor, glancing at 
the stains again. 

“ I noticed them on Lynch first, and then on 
you, and on your desk at Port Huron. I haven’t 
any thing more to say about them now.” 

“ But won’t you explain what you mean ? All 
you say is a riddle to me,” persisted Captain 
Braceback. 

“ I don’t believe it is.” 

“ Well, we won’t quarrel now, Captain Alick. 
You didn’t tell me where this Captain Boomsby 
lives. I suppose you came up here to see him.” 

“ He lives on a branch of the Saginaw River ; 
and by feeling your way you can run almost up to 


260 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


his house in the Islander,” I replied ; but I did not 
believe he wanted to see Captain Boomsby any 
more than I wanted to see him. 

“ Then how did you get to his house yesterday? ” 

“ I didn’t get to it. I haven’t seen him this 
year ; and I don’t want to see him for ten years to 
come,” I replied smartly. 

“You didn’t go to his house?” asked the 
captain, looking rather perplexed. “What did 
you go up to Bay City for, then ? ” 

“ I went up on a little business.” 

“ But you did not do any business ; for you did 
not leave the steamer, so far as I could learn.” 

“You staid on the wharf all the afternoon 
watching for me,” I added, wishing to show him 
that we had not all been asleep on board the 
Sylvania. 

“And it seems that you were so much afraid 
of me, that you did not go on shore because I was 
there,” added the captain, with a sort of smile of 
triumph. 

“ I am satisfied, if you are, Captain Braceback,” 
I replied. “Is there any thing more that I can 
tell you?” 

“ I supposed, if you came up to Bay City, you 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


261 


would go on shore , and, as I wanted to see you 
about this Captain Boomsby, I waited for you to 
come on shore.” 

“1 have told you all that you want to know 
about Captain Boomsby. He isn’t an honest man, 
and you can’t trust him. He lives up the river 
from the Saginaw, the first opening you come to 
on the east shore of the stream. Sound and feel 
your way ; and, when you come to a house, it is 
his,” I continued, rising. 

“ What sort of a desk is that you have, Captain 
Alick ? ” said my visitor, raising the lid. “ It is 
just like mine.” 

“ Exactly like it , but there is no yellow mud 
on this one, and I don’t keep any valuable papers 
or money in it.” 

“ What do you mean by that, Captain Alick ? ” 

“I don’t think you keep any such things in 
your desk now, Captain Braceback,” I replied; 
and I was so good-natured as I thought of my 
visit to the Islander, that I could not help laugh- 
ing. 

“ How many hands have you on board, Captain 
Alick?” 

“ Seven, all told.” 


262 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“All of them boys?” 

“ Three of them will count as men. How many 
have you ? ” 

“ Six men, and no boys.” 

“Is there any thing more I can do for you, 
Captain Braceback? ” 

He asked some more questions ; and, in reply to 
him, I said we were bound first to Lake Superior, 
and should be there some time the next day. He 
seemed to be very unwilling to leave the steamer. 
He kept his eyes wandering about the boat ; and 
I have no doubt he was thinking of the lost 
package all the time, having no suspicion that it 
was not still on board the Sylvania. At last he 
went over the side into his boat. I saw that his 
lips were firmly set together as he picked up his 
oars, and pulled for the Islander. I was sure he 
meant mischief ; and he would have searched the 
steamer if he could have got the other two men 
on board of her. 

I supposed I should be permitted to depart in 
peace now. But, as the boat went up to the 
davits of the Islander, she was headed again to 
the west. Captain Braceback would not let me 
pass. I dodged about for a while in vain attcmptj 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


263 


to get out into the bay. At last, in despair, I 
headed the Syl vania for the river. As we were 
about to enter the mouth of it, a large steamer 
came down. 

The Islander was over to the eastward ; and, as 
the steamer came out of the river, I placed the 
Sylvania abreast of her. She went ahead at full 
speed, but our boat was fast enough for her. 
Captain Braceback ran for her, perhaps hoping 
that the Sylvania might fall astern of her as she 
increased her speed. But we maintained our posh 
tion alongside the passenger-boat, and not more 
than sixty feet from her, for I was not inclined 
to leave any space for the enemy to crawl in be- 
tween us. But Captain Braceback seemed to be 
utterly reckless in his movements, and dashed on 
till a collision seemed to be imminent. Doubtless 
the pilot of the passenger-boat was astonished at 
the conduct of the officers of the little propeller. 

“ I believe the Islander will run into that 
boat ! ” exclaimed Ellie, much excited. 

“I can’t think Captain Braceback is reckless 
enough to do that, especially as he will not make 
any thing by it,” I replied, trying to fathom the 
intentions of the enemy. “ If he does it he will 


264 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


only smash that steamer as well as his own, with' 
out doing us any harm. While he is afoul of her, 
we can get out of the way.” 

“He is certainly going into her,” added Bob 
Washburn. 

When a crash seemed to be inevitable, we heard 
the gong of the larger boat, followed by two 
bells to back her. Captain Braceback was a 
sharp operator; and his long experience enabled 
him to calculate upon the action of the pilot of 
the other boat with certainty. He had evidently 
accomplished what he played for, and appeared to 
be in a position to head off the Sylvania. But I 
was not disposed to give up the contest. As soon 
as I heard the bell of the passenger-boat, I threw 
the wheel hard over to starboard. We were go- 
ing at full speed, and our little craft worked very 
lively. 

“ Don’t let him run into us,” said Ellie. 

“We must take our chances now,” I replied, 
trying to keep cool ; but it was like freezing ice- 
cream in the oven of a cooking-stove. 

“I think we are all right,” added Bob. “We 
shall run ahead of her.” 

But it was a close shave ; and the first satisfao 


THS CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


265 


tory intimation I had, that we were not to be sunk 
in a collision, was a change in the course of the 
Islander. Captain Braceback evidently saw that 
his boat would pass astern of the Sylvania, and he 
put his helm to port. 

“ Give her all the steam you can, Moses ! ” I 
called through the speaking-tube to the engine- 
room. 

The bow of the Islander lapped a few feet over 
the stern of the Sylvania, but her stem was twenty 
feet from our quarter. I had sent word to Moses, 
directing him to prepare for emergencies ; and, 
when the boat began to shake and quiver, I was 
satisfied that he had all the steam it was safe to 
carry. 

“ Go aft, Bob, and keep your eye on the stem of 
the Islander,” I continued, for I was unable to 
compare the relative positions of the two vessels. 
“ Send me word how it is going with us.” 

Ellie went with him, for I needed no assistance, 
unless it was to watch Lynch. I saw that the 
mate was very nervous, and evidently wanted to 
do something to improve the chances of his father. 
I kept one eye on him all the time. He stood at 
file heel of the bowsprit, looking ahead as his duty 


266 


LAKE BREEZES, OR, 


required him to do, but casting frequent glances 
at the position of his father’s boat astern of us. 

“Bob says we have gained a foot on the Is- 
lander,” said Ellie, entering the pilot-house. 

“All right: go aft, Ellie, and bring me word 
yourself when there is any further change in the 
positions of the two boats, and send Bob to me.” 

Bob Washburn had more nerve and decision of 
character than Ellie ; and, when I noticed the in- 
creased nervousness of the mate, I wanted him 
near me. I observed that he had taken his hand 
from his pocket several times ; and I thought his 
actions were rather suspicious. I was trying to 
think what he might possibly do to give the battle 
to his father, when he began to walk up and down 
the forecastle. In a few minutes I was confident 
he had his knife in his hand. 

“ Take the wheel, Bob : I think Lynch means 
mischief,” I said to my companion. 

“ He has meant it all the time,” replied Bob. 

At this moment I saw the mate stooping down 
under the front wheels of the pilot-house. I 
knew then what he meant ; and, leaping out the 
open window, I came down fairly on his back. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 267 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


AN EXCITING RUN TO THE NORTHWARD. 

HE pilot-house of the Sylvania was two steps 



above the main deck, the space below it 
being thrown into the forward cabin. The sort of 
trunk on which the pilot-house was built formed 
a skylight, with swinging window-sashes on the 
front and on each side, by which the forward cab- 
in received an abundance of light and air. The 
two windows in front were open. Between them 
passed down the two wheel-ropes, which were here 
joined to the chains and rods that connected with 
the rudder. I was satisfied that Lynch intended 
to cut these ropes ; and this act of treason would 
render the vessel unmanageable, at least till we 
could ship a tiller, and get it in working order. 

When I struck the mate, in dropping from the 
window of the pilot-house, I knocked him over on 
one side. As his hand came out from the window, 
I saw that he held a knife. But it was no easy 


268 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


matter to cut off a three-quarter-inch rope, even 
with a sharp blade. I seized the mate by both 
hands ; and, before he could recover from his sur- 
prise at the suddenness of the movement, I had 
taken the knife from him. When I had done this, 
I permitted him to rise. 

“ What are you about, Captain Alick ? ” de- 
manded Lynch, panting with rage and the violence 
of his exertions, for he had struggled smartly in 
the brief contest between us. 

“ Keep her steady, Bob,” I added, turning to the 
wheelman, for I was afraid his attention would be 
distracted by the scuffle on the forecastle. 

“ Steady,” replied Bob. 

“ Now, what were you about, Lynch Braceback, 
with that knife ? ” I continued, looking the rec- 
reant mate in the face. 

“ If that’s the way you treat the mate of the 
Sylvania, I think there will be a broken head 
round here somewhere,” growled Lynch. 

“ So I think ; and it won’t be mine, but yours,” 
I replied. “ So you want to cut the wheel-rope, 
do you ? ” 

“ Who wants to cut the wheel-rope ? ” 

“That’s your little game. I will'relieve you of 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


269 


your duties as mate ; and I am ready to have you 
go on board of your father’s steamer as soon as 
there is a chance for you to do so.” 

“We are gaining on the Islander,” said Ellie, 
reporting to me at this moment. 

“ Port the helm, Bob, and bring her gradually 
to north-west by north,” I continued. “ Keep 
watch of the Islander all the time, Ellie.” 

“ What’s the matter here, Captain Alick ? ” 
asked the messenger, who could not help seeing 
that a tempest was raging on the forecastle. 

“ Lynch has been trying to cut the wheel-ropes 
of the steamer ; and I have concluded not to keep 
up the farce any longer. But go aft, Ellie, and 
let me know when the other boat makes any 
change in her course.” 

Ellie obeyed the order, though he was appar- 
ently unwilling to do so without knowing more 
About the difficulty forward. 

“ I haven’t tried to cut the wheel-rope, Captain 
Alick,” said Lynch doggedly. “ I was reaching 
into the forward cabin for my coat that hangs 
there.” 

“Were you reaching for it with this knife?” 
I asked, holding up the instrument I had taken 
from him in the sharp affray. 


270 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


“ Yes, I was : my arm is not quite long enough 
to reach it, and I pieced it out with my knife,” 
replied Lynch. 

I looked through the window into the cabin. 
A coat was hanging on the opposite end of the 
trunk ; but it belonged to Ben Bowman, who had 
one of the berths there. The nail on which it 
hung was six feet from the window, and he could 
hardly have reached it with a yard-stick, much 
less with a jack-knife. 

“ That coat don’t belong to you : it is Ben 
Bowman’s,” I replied to his assertion. 

“ I don’t care whose it was : I wanted it, for 
the air is chilly on the heel of the bowsprit,” 
muttered Lynch. 

I was afraid he had weakened the wheel-rope, 
and I bent over to examine it. I found he had 
partly cut off one of the strands, so that the ma- 
terial was fraying up around the wound. While 
I was looking at and feeling of the cut, the ex- 
mate suddenly pounced upon me, and began to 
hammer me with his fists. He hit me several 
times in the head before I could get up enough to 
make a decent resistance. But I was beginning 
to make a fair show for myself when Professor 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


271 


Buckminster came forward ; and, seeing that I 
was hardly holding my own, he seized Lynch by 
the collar, and dragged him off. 

“ How is this, Captain Alick ? ” demanded the 
man of letters, still holding the struggling traitor 
at arm’s-length. 

“ He pitched into me while I was stooping 
down, and came behind me, so that I could not 
see what he was about,” I pleaded, in excuse for 
getting the worst of it. 

“And that’s just the way he took me a little 
while ago,” growled Lynch. 

“ He was trying to cut the wheel-ropes,” I 
added. “ He is a traitor to me and the vessel he 
sails in ; and I shall get rid of him as soon as I 
can.” 

“What will you have done with him in the 
mean time ? ” asked the professor, still holding his 
prisoner. 

“ He ought to be put in irons for mutiny, and 
for being faithless to his trust as the mate of the 
Sylvania,” I replied ; and I was very indignant as 
I thought of the mischief he might have caused 
if he had succeeded in disabling the wheel even 
for a moment. 


272 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


“ If we haven’t any irons, we have ropes 
enough ; and we can make these answer the pur- 
pose,” said the professor, with a smile. 

At this the prisoner began to struggle, and to 
try to get away from his captor. But Mr. Buck- 
minster was a strong man, and without much 
effort brought both of Lynch’s hands together 
behind him. I procured a line, and made it fast 
around his wrists. The prisoner struggled till he 
was out of breath ; but by this time I had made 
him fast to the rail abreast of the pilot-house. 

“Father! father!” yelled the prisoner, as he 
discovered the Islander, with her sharp bow on 
the starboard quarter of the Sylvania. 

“ Let him yell : he can do no harm,” said Pro- 
fessor Buckminster. 

But I did not wish his father to think we were 
killing him. I should have been glad to get rid 
of him at that moment, but I did not mean to 
do him any harm. I walked aft, attended by the 
professor. 

“ Drive her all you can, Moses,” I said to the 
engineer, as we passed the wheel-house. 

“ She is doing about all she can,” replied Moses. 

“ He will not burst the boiler, will he ? ” asked 
the professor. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


273 


“ No, sir : there is no danger of that,” I replied, 
as we came to the quarter-deck. “We are gain- 
ing on the Islander, as we have done every time 
when we have driven the Sylvania.” 

The stem of the former was about ten feet 
astern of the latter ; and I was entirely satisfied 
with the gain we had made. I was confident that 
we should leave her half a mile behind in an hour, 
if no accident happened to derange my calcula- 
tions. But they were forcing the Islander to the 
utmost of her engine’s capacity. 

“ Father ! father ! ” yelled Lynch Braceback 
again, with all the strength of his lungs. “ They 
are killing me ! ” 

“ What are you doing to my son ? ” demanded 
the captain of the Islander. 

“ Nothing at all ! ” I screamed in reply. 

Again and again the ex-mate yelled to his 
father; but, like Casabianca’s parent, he could 
not do any thing for him, though for a different 
reason. The wind had been very light when we 
came out of the river; but a strong breeze had 
sprung up from the south, which was increasing in 
force every instant. Though the Islander was 
rigged as a topsail schooner, like the Sylvania, 


274 LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 

I had noticed that her sails, if she had any, were 
not bent on. The stiff breeze we were getting 
over the quarter suggested that we might use it to 
advantage. 

“ Can you spare Ben Bowman, Moses ? ” I 
asked, as I went forward to the engine-room. 

“For a while; but I don’t like to leave the 
engine to go into the fire-room, for you may want 
to stop her in a hurry,” replied Moses. “ But we 
have fire enough for ten or fifteen minutes.” 

I called Ben, and directed him and Ellie to lay 
aloft, and shake out the fore-topsail. It was a 
very unusual occurrence for us to carry any sail 
on the Sylvania ; and we had hardly ever done it 
except for fun. But my coiaapanions were in- 
terested in the art of seamanship ; and I had put 
on sail to please them, and to exercise them in 
setting and furling. Gopher, the steward and 
cook, was a sailor; and, when the topmen had 
loosed tha sail, he and I handled the sheets, hal- 
yards, and braces. The fore-topsail was set in the 
same manner. Moving aft, we hauled out the 
mainsail, and shook out the gaff-topsail. To com- 
plete the work, we run up the jib and flying-jib. 

The effect was seen immediately. The Syl- 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLYANIA. 


275 


vania heeled over on her port side , and, with all 
her sails drawing full, she began to shove herself 
through the water at a very lively rate. I had 
noticed before that her sails had a lifting effect 
upon the vessel so far as the bow was concerned. 
This settled the stern a little deeper in the water, 
so as to increase the force of the screw, even 
while she was heeled over so far by the action of 
the wind on the sails. 

“We are gaining rapidly on the Islander now,” 
said Bob Washburn, as he came upon the quarter- 
deck, Ellie having relieved him at the wheel. 

“ I think we are gaining two knots an hour on 
her,” I answered, after I had watched the dis- 
tance between the vessels for a time. “But I 
don’t suppose that all the sail we can put on will 
help her more than a knot an hour.” 

“ I should say it would increase the speed three 
or four miles an hour,” added Bob. 

“ Not more than one and a half, at the most,” I 
added. “ The sails are more for ornament than 
for use ; though, if the engine should break down, 
we could get into port with them.” 

I found, at the end of the first hour, we had not 
gained more than a mile and a half. But I was 


276 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


entirely satisfied with the performance of the Syl- 
vania. The passenger-boat we had passed had 
started her wheels as soon as the Islander had 
gone across her bow. She was evidently a very 
fast craft ; for she had passed the Islander, and was 
now half-way up with the Sylvania. After watch- 
ing her for a time, I was satisfied that her rate 
was about half-way between that of the Islander 
and that of the Sylvania. She could beat the 
former, but not the latter when carrying all sail 
in a breeze as fresh as that of the present time. 

All day long we continued to drive the steamer ; 
and at dark, when we were off Presqu’ He Light, 
the Islander was more than ten miles astern of 
us, but the passenger-steamer was not more than 
five miles distant. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


277 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


LYNCH HEARS THE WHOLE STORY. 

HE wind had all died out, so that the lake 



was as calm as a millpond. We had furled 
all the sails, and I found by the movement of the 
passenger-steamer that our speed had been reduced 
fully two knots an hour ; but I had told Moses 
before sunset not to crowd her so hard as he had 
been doing during the day. 

“ What are you going to do with me, Captain 
Alick ? ” asked Lynch Braceback, when we had 
made every thing snug for the day. 

“ I am going to get rid of you as soon as possi- 
ble,” I replied. 

He was in a better frame of mind than he had 
been all day ; for he was so ugly that I did not 
consider it prudent to release him from his con- 
finement longer than to permit him to eat his 
dinner and supper, which he had taken under the 
supervision of the professor. He seemed to have 


278 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


come to the conclusion that we had every thing 
in our own hands, and that it was useless to make 
any further resistance. 

“ What do you mean by getting rid of me, Cap- 
tain Alick ? I thought I was to go with you on 
this trip,” continued Lynch in quite a subdued 
tone. “ If I have done any thing out of the way, 
I am willing to apologize for it.” 

“ I think it has gone too far to be settled by 
any apology,” I added very decidedly. “It is clear 
enough now that you have been a traitor to me 
from the beginning.” 

“ I don’t know what you mean by that, Alick,” 
said he, with one of his sickly smiles. “You made 
me mad by jumping down upon me from the win- 
dow of the pilot-house, and I pitched into you. 
But I am. sorry for it now ; and I don’t think we 
shall have any more trouble.” 

“ Can you tell me why you tried to cut the 
wheel-rope ? ” 

“ You are entirely mistaken about that, Captain 
Alick. I had no more intention to cut the wheeh 
rope than you had.” 

“ I don’t want to use any hard words, Lynch ; 
but I think you had. And I know as well as I 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


279 


know any thing, that you cut the seizing on the 
wheel-rope the day we came out of the river.” 

“I cut it? That is a new thing to me!” ex- 
claimed the ex-mate. 

“ It may be new to you, but it is not to the rest 
of us,” I replied ; and I took from my pocket the 
piece of spun-yarn by which the end of the rope 
had been secured to the spoke of the wheel. 
“ That don’t look as though it had been broken, 
does it ? ” 

I pointed out the smooth end of the string, and 
assured him that spun-yarn did not break off as 
clean as that. 

“You didn’t say any thing to me about this 
before ; and I did not know that I was under 
suspicion,” he replied bitterly, as though he were 
the injured person rather than myself. 

“I preferred to wait and see what else you 
would do ; but some of us have been watching you 
from the moment you cut that seizing.” 

“ Then it seems that you were looking for some- 
thing out of the way ; and of course you were 
bound to find it.” 

“ It’s of no use for you to look so innocent and 
lamblike, Lynch : I know you through and through 


280 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


now,” I added with no little indignation ; for his 
hypocrisy was even worse than his treachery. 

“ I don’t know what has come over you all at 
once, Captain Alick,” muttered Lynch. “I am 
sure I haven’t done any thing to merit this treat- 
ment.” 

“ Considering the treachery and meanness of 
your conduct since we started on this excursion, I 
think you have been treated with the greatest gen- 
erosity,” I retorted. 

“ I can’t see it.” 

“ What do you think causes your father to act 
as he does with the Islander ? I think he intended 
to run into the Sylvania, and sink her if he could. 
How do you explain his conduct ? ” 

“I don’t explain it. I am not responsible for 
what he does.” 

“ But he is responsible for what you do.” 

“ I don’t think he is.” 

“ I do ; for you are acting under his instructions, 
and you have been' ever since we came out of Glin- 
ten River.” 

“ I don’t understand what you mean, as I have 
said a dozen times before. If you want to say 
any thing, why don’t you say it? ” snarled Lynch, 


THE CRTJISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 281 

struggling as rogues and rascals always do to avoid 
committing themselves. 

“ I have this to say : that, when that passenger- 
boat comes up with us, I shall put you on board 
of her.” 

“ I won’t go on board of her ! ” protested the 
culprit. 

“ Very well : I can’t force you on board of her ; 
but I can do the next best thing,” I replied, as 
decidedly as he had spoken. 

“ What’s that?” 

“ I shall put you on shore at the first land we 
come to ; and that will be at Point Detour Light,” 
I added, as I thought he had a right to know what 
was to be done with him. 

“ That is rather rough on me. You insisted 
that I should be the mate of the Sylvania; and 
now you are going to leave me in a desert place.” 

“We insisted that you should be the mate 
because the lot fell upon you. But that was 
before you got that mud on your clothes,” I added 
sharply. 

“ What has the mud on my clothes to do with 
it ? I didn’t suppose I had to be a dandy because 
I was the mate of a little steamer,” sneered 
Lynch. “ What has the mud to do with it ? ” 


282 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“It has every thing to do with it. I don’t 
think we need to mince the matter any more. 
Perhaps you can remember how you got that 
yellow mud on your clothes ? ” 

“ I haven’t the least idea.” 

“ By a singular coincidence, your father is 
daubed with the same mud ; and he didn’t seem 
to know where it came from. The desk in his 
state-room was also stained with it.” 

“ Now you speak about it, I can recall where 
it came from. My mother has been complaining 
of the drain at our house in Montomercy ; and 
father and I cleaned it out just before we left 
home.” 

“ Your father did not remember that circum- 
stance,” I replied, smiling at the invention. “ But 
I think you have mixed things a little.” 

“No, I haven’t; and father will tell you the 
same thing, if you ask him. We went down into 
the cellar, and took up the sink-drain ” — 

“You went down into the cellar; but it was 
not in your father’s house, but in that of Mr. 
Brickland. You dug up the brick pavement, 
and took out a package you found there. Your 
father carried it on board of the Islander with 
him.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


283 


“ What are you talking about, Captain Alick ? ” 
demanded Lynch, his lips quivering, and his chest 
heaving with an emotion he could not wholly 
suppress. 

“ Shall I say it all over again ? ” 

“I understood your words, of course; but I 
don’t know what they mean,” stammered Lynch. 

“ I mean just what I say. I noticed the mud 
on your clothes the moment I saw you on the 
wharf at Montomercy.. I had missed the package 
which you and your father took. It is a State- 
prison offence for both of you.” 

“ Do I understand you, Captain Alick, that you 
mean to charge my father and me with stealing 
something ? ” asked Lynch, struggling to look his 
indignation. 

“ I do charge you both with just that thing.” 

“ My father and me ? ” 

“ Both of you.” 

“ I should like to see you prove it.” 

“ That is just the thing you would not like to 
have me do, Lynch ; though I can do it.” 

“ How can you do it ? ” 

“ I needn’t show my hand till I get ready. You 
cut the seizing to disable the Sylvania, so that she 


284 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


could not follow the Islander. Neither you nor 
your father knew whether or not I had discovered 
the loss of the package ; but you meant to be on 
the safe side, and your father intended to get out 
of the way of our steamer as soon as possible. 
For this reason he went into the cove to the north 
of the river to wait till the Sylvania had got over 
into St. Clair River.” 

“You are making all this up as you go along, 
Captain Alick,” added Lynch, with intense dis- 
gust on his face, though there was not so much of 
it in his heart. 

“ Perhaps I am ; but what I say is just as well 
known to all on board, except Ben Bowman and 
Gopher, as it is to me. From the moment this 
steamer went out of the river, I was looking after 
the Islander. I supposed she had gone around 
Point Huron ; and you did not know that she had 
not, as I judged from your actions.” 

“ I hadn’t any idea where she had gone, and I 
told you so at the time.” 

“ You had not, and you spoke the truth. But, 
as soon as we saw her headed for the north pass, 
you were very nervous ; and every fellow on 
board was watching you.” 


THE CRUISE OP THE SYL VANIA. 


285 


“ I suppose there was nothing mean about that,” 
said Lynch, turning up his nose. 

“ Nothing at all, when we had a traitor on 
board.” 

“ You can call me a traitor while I am tied to 
the rail.” 

“ I can, and I do,” I added, not at all cut by 
his implied charge. “I am telling this story as 
much for your father as for you ; for I think he 
will pick you up after we land you at Point De- 
tour. As soon as I had the Sylvania headed for 
the south pass in order to cut off the Islander, you 
tried to disable our boat, so as to prevent us from 
overtaking your father, who had the stolen pack- 
age with him. Then the Islander came about, and 
stood to the southward. I kept the Sylvania be- 
hind the three-master till your father supposed we 
were well up the south pass. Then we chased 
him almost to Detroit River, when he came about 
once more ; and we followed him to Port Huron.” 

“ I know all this as well as you do ; but you 
said you were only trying to ascertain which was 
the faster boat. I didn’t suppose you would lie 
about it.” 

“ I did wish to know which was the faster boat. 


286 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


I may say that I was very anxious to settle this 
question. At Port Huron I went on board of 
the Islander. Your father was very polite to me, 
as he had never been before.” 

“ Because he always said you were a liar and a 
humbug ; and I believe he was right,” retorted 
Lynch. 

“ Thank you, Lynch. Your father invited me 
into his state-room ; and, when I saw that his desk 
as well as his clothes were stained with yellow 
mud, I concluded that the package he and you had 
stolen was in that desk. He asked me to excuse 
him for five minutes : this was when he went over 
to tell you to start the Sylvania before I could 
get on board. You remember about this?” 

“ Go on : my hands are tied, and you can say 
any thing you like,” growled Lynch. 

“ But I want you to remember this, and tell it to 
your father ; for it will save him the trouble of 
following us all around Lake Superior.” 

“ I shall not tell him any thing.” 

“ Yes, you will : I will take the risk of this. In 
a word, I opened the desk, and took out the pack- 
age. It was my property ; and I had a right to it, 
wherever I found it.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 287 


“ I see : you robbed my father’s desk in the 
Islander. I understand now why he is chasing 
you all about,” sneered Lynch. 

“ Any way you please. When your father sup- 
posed he had me safe in his state-room, he started 
for the south. But in the course of the night he 
ascertained that he had lost the package ; and, put- 
ting about, he chased us up Saginaw River.” 

“ I wonder he did not get an officer, and have 
you arrested for robbing his desk.” 

“ He knew better than to do any thing of the 
kind. He did not even hint at such a thing when 
he came on board this morning. Now, you can 
tell him to-night, when he picks you up, that it is 
no use to follow me any longer, for the package is 
not on board of the Sylvania. When I went on 
shore at Bay City, I took the train for Monto- 
mercy; and before eight in the evening I had 
handed over that property to Mr. Brickland, who 
is my guardian. It is now deposited somewhere 
in Detroit for safe-keeping. That is the whole 
story ; and your father will not be glad to hear it, 
though you had better tell him all about it. He 
intends to catch us in some quiet place on Lake 
Superior, and with his six men he will try to re* 


288 


LAKE BREEZES , OR, 


cover the package by force. But he won’t find 
it.” 

“ Do you mean to tell me, Alick, that you went 
to Montomercy last night ? ” demanded Lynch. 

“ I left at two o’clock in the afternoon, and ar- 
rived at the Grand Trunk Junction at six, and at 
Montomercy at a little after seven.” 

“ That is the biggest lie you have told yet ! It 
is impossible to do any such thing; and if you 
have stolen any property from my father, as you 
confess you have, I shall advise him not to take 
any notice of this yarn.” 

“ As you please. I have nothing more to say.” 

At ten in the evening we were off Point De- 
tour ; and, in spite of his protest and his struggles, 
we put Lynch Braceback on shore. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


289 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

INTO LAKE SUPERIOR. 

F THINK all on board felt a very considerable 
relief as soon as Lynch was out of the vessel. 
He had been a restraint upon us all since we left 
Montomercy. The feeling that he was a traitor 
was uppermost in our minds ; and we could not 
be happy in the presence of such a person. 

I had never been through St. Mary’s River ; and, 
being a stranger to the navigation, I did not like 
to run in the night. But the Islander would 
appear in about an hour, and it was hardly pru- 
dent to anchor near the place where we had 
landed Lynch Braceback. The river was more 
than a mile wide, and no obstructions appeared on 
the chart. I kept the Sylvania going till I found 
a little bay, which had a background of woods 
beyond it. 

When we had passed beyond a point which 
concealed the steamer from the view of the ex- 


290 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


mate, I sent Ben Bowman into the fore-chains 
with the hand-lead. Slowly feeling the way into 
the little bay, I brought the Sylvania under the 
shadow of the woods where I was confident she 
could not be seen from the river. The anchor 
was let go, and the fires banked. 

“Well, what are we going to do in here?” 
asked Ellie. 

“We are going to stay here all night, if the 
Islander don’t come in and drive us out,” I 
replied. 

“ Do you suppose Lynch will succeed in attract- 
ing the attention of his father?” asked Bob 
Washburn. 

“ I have no doubt he will. I gave him matches 
and the material to make a fire ; and he can yell 
loud enough to make his father hear,” I answered. 

“ I should like to see whether the Islander picks 
him up or not,” added Ellie. “ I shouldn’t wish 
to have him left there for any length of time, with 
nothing to eat.” 

“ All right : we can soon learn whether his 
father takes him in or not,” I continued, giving 
the order to lower one of the boats. 

We got into the boat, Bob, Ellie, and myself. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLYANIA. 291 


Each of my companions took an oar, and 1 
handled the tiller-lines. By this time Moses had 
got rid of all his spare steam, and the locality 
where we lay was as silent as a tomb. The wind 
had entirely subsided, and the surface of the 
water was as smooth as glass. We pulled out to 
the point, from which we could see down the river 
to the lake. The Islander was in plain sight, and 
not more than two miles distant. We had put 
Lynch ashore on a point of land half a mile 
above the light-house ; and we found he had built 
a fire, as I had suggested to him. 

We drew the boat up to the shore, and landed. 
Crossing the point of land, we obtained a better 
position to watch the movements of the approach- 
ing steamer. Though we were three-quarters of 
a mile from him, we could distinctly hear the yells 
of Lynch Braceback ; and, if we could hear them, 
we were confident that Captain Braceback could 
also hear them, for the Islander was not half a 
mile from the point on which the fire was built. 

“ She is running in nearer the shore,” said Ellie, 
as the Islander changed her course. 

“ They hear him,” I added. 

At a safe distance from the shore the Islander 


292 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


stopped her screw, and we heard her captain hail 
the person on the land. Then a boat was got 
out, and in a few moments more Lynch was taken 
on board. The steamer went ahead again, going 
up the river. 

“ Now lie down, fellows,” I said to my com- 
panions, suiting the action to the word. “ The 
Islander may come very near to this point, and I 
wouldn’t have her people see us for all the old 
shoes I have in the Sylvania.” 

“ She isn’t coming within half a mile of us,” 
added Ellie, as he lay down by my side. “ Do 
you think they can see the Sylvania ? ” 

“ I am sure they cannot ; for she lies half a mile 
up the inlet, with a background of trees to hide 
her. Besides, Captain Braceback will be busy lis- 
tening to Lynch’s story.’; 

“ May not Lynch have seen us go into this 
inlet?” asked the prudent Bob. 

“ I don’t think he paid any attention to us after 
the Sylvania started her screw. He had enough 
to do to watch his father’s vessel,” I replied. 

“Don’t you believe, after Captain Braceback 
has heard Lynch’s story, that he will give up the 
chase ? ” asked Ellie. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 293 


“ I am afraid not. Lynch did not believe what 
I told him about conveying the package to Monto- 
mercy ; and I hardly expect his father will be 
satisfied with this explanation.” 

We watched the movements of the Islander 
with intense interest. She passed within half a 
mile of the spot where we lay. She continued on 
her course without any variation, for her captain 
was perfectly familiar with the navigation of the 
river. In a few minutes we lost sight of her. 
We launched the boat again, and pulled back to 
the Sylvan ia. The excitement for the night was 
over ; and we had nothing to do but turn in and 
sleep till daylight. Professor Buckminster insisted 
upon keeping the anchor watch, and I left him in 
charge of the steamer. 

He called me at four o’clock in the morning, as 
I had requested. I turned out the engineer, and 
in half an hour we were ready to resume our 
voyage. With the chart before me, I had no diffi- 
culty about the navigation in the daytime. At 
ten o’clock we reached Sault St. Mary, the village 
on the American side at the foot of the rapids. 1 
ran the Sylvania up to the wharf, where all vessels 
have to wait for a chance to pass through the 
canal. 


294 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


I had confidently expected to find the Islander 
here, but she was not to be seen. Captain Brace- 
back would ascertain that the Sylvania had not 
passed through the canal ; and I had concluded 
that he would wait here for us. I went on shore ; 
and, after making arrangements to coal my vessel, 
I inquired for the Islander. She had not gone 
through the canal, and had not even been up to 
the wharf. I tried to reason out the probable 
course of Captain Braeeback, in order to show 
why he was not at the Sault. He knew that I was 
not acquainted with the navigation of the River 
St. Mary ; and probably he had gone into some 
bay or stream to allow our boat to pass. I could 
explain the situation in no other way. 

“Want a pilot ?” said a rough-looking man, 
coming up to me, as I stood on the wharf, think- 
ing out the matter. 

A pilot was just what I did want. The man 
assured me he knew all about Lake Superior ; and, 
finding his account of himself was satisfactory, I 
engaged him. He seemed to know everybody 
about the village, and I was confident that I had 
obtained the right man. As soon as the coal was 
put into the bunkers, our time came to go through 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


295 


the canal. The new pilot took the wheel, and 
worked the boat into the lock with a degree of 
skill that increased my confidence in his ability to 
do all he had promised. 

All on board the Sylvania were interested in the 
sights to be seen around the Sault. All hands had 
been watching the Indians at the foot of the 
rapids, who were catching whitefish in scoop-nets. 
While one man paddled the canoe as far into the 
boiling waters as he could, the other handled the 
scoop-net. It was very exciting business; but 
often the Indians scooped without getting a single 
fish. I did not see any one take more than two 
whitefish at a haul : and I had done much better 
than this off Thunder Bay with my peculiar bait. 

All the way through the canal we could^see the 
raging rapids ; and we had a long reach of river 
beyond it. After the southerly blow of the day 
before, the wind had come round fresh from the 
north-west, and we found the weather about as cold 
as November at home ; and more than once, though 
all hands had donned their heaviest clothing, I was 
glad to invade the cook’s galley for the benefit of 
the warm air. As we passed out into the open 
lake, we found quite a heavy sea, which caused the 


296 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


Syl vania to pitch and roll to such a degree that 
it made the professor sick. 

“ Where are you bound, Captain Alick ? ” asked 
the pilot, as I went into the pilot-house after 
warming myself at the stove. 

“We are bound to have a good time,” I replied ; 
“ and it don’t make any difference where we go.” 

“Do you want to hunt, fish, or see places?” 
continued the pilot, with a broad grin. 

“All three. We want to see all that is worth 
seeing about the lake.” 

“ All right : then you must go to Michipicoten 
Island first. There you will get the finest scenery 
and the best of fishing on the lake.” 

This island was about a hundred miles from the 
foot of the lake ; and at ten o’clock in the evening 
we saw its hills in the distance. About the same 
time we discovered the lights of a steamer astern 
of us ; and I was satisfied it was the Islander. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 297 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

AROUND LAKE SUPERIOR. 

“T\0 you know that steamer astern of us, 
Flickers ? ” I asked the pilot. 

“I can’t make her out at this distance; but I 
suppose she is one of the Canadian boats that run 
up to the north shore,” replied the pilot. 

“I think not: she is not large enough to be a 
passenger-boat. Do you know the Islander ? ” 

“ Never heard of her.” 

“ Do you propose to make a harbor to-night ? ” 
I asked, and I was a little anxious about the 
matter. 

“ In half an hour we shall be in Quebec harbor. 
Around it is the finest bit of country on the lake.” 

“ Do you know your way into this harbor in 
the night?” I asked, a little nervously, for the 
island looked as black and dark as a dungeon. 

“ Just as well as I know the way into bed when 
I am at home,” replied Flickers, with his peculiar 
grin. 


298 


LAKE BREEZES j OR, 


I went to the stern to take another look at the 
approaching steamer. She was not more than a 
mile from the Sylvania by this time ; and I won- 
dered that we had not noticed her earlier, though 
we had seen the smoke of her furnaces before 
dark. Ellie was sure it was the Islander, and 
I had no doubt of it. Occasionally the flame 
poured out of her smoke-stack, and I saw that 
Captain Braceback was hurrying her. He must 
have come through the canal at least two hours 
after we did ; and, as he could not have seen the 
Sylvania when he got into Lake Superior, I 
wondered how he had known so well in what 
direction to steer. Up to this time I had regarded 
myself as entirely safe from any intrusion on the 
part of the Islander, unless she happened to fall 
upon us by accident. 

An hour later we were approaching a group of 
islands at the entrance of the harbor, with the 
Islander not more than half a mile distant from 
us. I was still at the stern, watching the steamer 
in chase, when I felt a harsh, grating sound be- 
neath me. At the same moment the Sylvania 
stopped, and I saw that her bow was lifted up in 
the water at least a foot. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


299 


The Sylvania was hard and fast aground ! 

“ I thought you knew your way into this harbor 
in the night ! ” I shouted to Flickers, as I went 
forward. 

“ So I do ; and I have taken a steamer four 
times as big as this one into this port in the 
middle of the night, and over precisely the same 
water as we stick in to-night,” replied the pilot ; 
but I did not think he seemed to be much dis- 
turbed by the accident. 

I took a pole, and sounded the depth forward. 
We were on a sandbank , and it was possible, as 
Flickers suggested, that it was of recent formation. 
While I was looking over the situation, I saw the 
Islander come up under the stern of the Sylvania ; 
and I was not very much surprised when I heard 
her people give three cheers, as though our mis- 
fortune was a victory to them. 

Flickers wanted a boat to examine the situation 
of the Sylvania ; and, when one was lowered, I 
went into it with him. We sounded with the oars 
as we shoved the boat out towards the channel. 
Astern of her was very deep water, in which I 
was disgusted to see the Islander come to anchor. 
Flickers pulled the boat over to her ; and she was 
not more than a hundred feet from the Sylvania. 


300 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“I’ll pull you off in the morning, Captain 
Alick ! ” shouted Captain Braceback, in tones of 
derision, as we came near his vessel. 

“ And I will do all I can to help you out of the 
scrape,” jeered Lynch. “ You won’t have as good 
a time there as I had on the point where you left 
me.” 

“You needn’t go any nearer to the steamer, 
Flickers,” I said to the pilot, for I did not care to 
hear any more blackguard talk. 

“ Well, Captain Alick, I have done all I can for 
you ; and I reckon I’ll go on board of the vessel, 
and see if there’s any whiskey in her lockers,” 
replied the pilot with an audible grin. 

“ Then I am to suppose your business up here 
was to put the Sylvania on that shoal,” I added 
bitterly. 

“ Well, as to that, you can come to your own 
conclusions,” answered Flickers, chuckling as he 
ran up the accommodation-steps of the Islander. 

I pulled back to the Sylvania ; and I think a 
more disgusted skipper of a small steamer never 
floated on the waters of Lake Superior. The boat 
was hoisted up at the davits, and all hands had an 
exciting discussion over the situation. Flickers 


THE CRUrSE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


301 


was another traitor. Captain Bracebaek, as I had 
supposed, got in behind an island when we passed, 
and sent the pilot to do the job he had just com- 
pleted. We had either to fight, or submit to 
whatever the enemy chose to subject us. As we 
could not help ourselves, we all turned in except 
one to keep watch ; and I took my first turn. On 
board of the Islander, all was still ; and I had no 
doubt all hands had also turned in. I could not 
do any thing to help myself ; and at three in the 
morning I called Bob Washburn, and went to 
sleep myself. 

At daylight in the morning Bob called all 
hands, declaring that the Islander was getting 
out her boats. By the time I could get upon 
deck, Captain Bracebaek and five other men 
were climbing up the side of the Sylvania. The 
captain was the first to plant his foot on the 
deck. 

“ Good-morning, Captain Alick,” said he, with 
the same good-natured expression he had be- 
stowed upon me before. 

u Good-morning, sir,” I replied, trying to be as 
cheerful as he was. 

“ I always believed you were a liar and a hum- 


302 


LAKE BREEZES , OR, 


bug, Captain Alick; but I did not think you 
would steal,” Captain Braceback proceeded. 

“ Thank you, sir, for the compliment,” I added. 

“You robbed my desk while we were at Port 
Huron : you took a package belonging to me from 
it. I want that package,” continued the captain, 
in a very decided tone. 

“ I suppose it is no use to discuss the question 
of the ownership of that package ; but I confi- 
dently believed that it belonged to me, and not to 
you.” 

“ That’s very cool of you, Captain Alick ! ” 
sneered the pirate. “Perhaps, if it were worth 
while, you could explain how it happened to 
belong to you. But we haven’t time to go into an 
argument; and they say you are a regular sea- 
lawyer, Captain Alick. You admit that you 
took it from my desk at Port Huron.” 

“ I admit it,” I answered, as little disposed to 
argue the case as he was. 

“ That’s enough ! you hear that ? ” he added, 
turning to his men. 

“ Make him give it up ! ” shouted the latter ; 
and Lynch’s voice was the loudest among them. 

“ The package is in Detroit now,” I replied, 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLYANIA. 


303 


feeling that I had the best of the argument in this 
direction. 

44 Lynch told me all about that ; and it is too 
thin,” replied the captain. 44 We will proceed 
with the search.” 

And they did proceed with it. They spent 
fully two hours in ransacking the vessel from 
stem to stern. Not a drawer, locker, hole, or 
corner escaped their observation. They turned 
out the contents of every box and barrel, and 
even ripped up the carpets in the cabins. But 
they did not find what they were looking for : 
and this was my chief consolation. I gave them 
the keys of all the drawers and lockers, so as to 
save the damage of having them broken open. 

If I had been disgusted before, Captain Brace- 
back was so now. He began to threaten me ; 
but I only repeated the story I had told before. 
I had conveyed the package to Montomercy whiU 
both steamers were anchored in Saginaw Bay. 

“That is a lie, Captain Alick. It was impos- 
sible to do any such thing in the time you were 
in the river,” protested Captain Braceback. 

44 1 can show you that it was possible,” I replied, 
producing the Railroad Guide I had borrowed of 
the engineer. 


304 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


As he seemed to be willing to listen, I pointed 
out the time of the departure and connection of 
the trains I had taken in my night journey. I 
believed that I had convinced him : certainly the 
hard swearing he did was ample evidence of the 
fact. He proceeded to abuse me ; and, as he was 
doing so, he happened to glance at the spanker- 
gaff. I had set the American flag at the peak, 
with the ensign down as a signal of distress; 
but I had not done it till I saw a steamer coming 
down from the north-west. 

“ What does that mean ? ” demanded the captain 
of the Islander, pointing to the signal. 

“A signal of distress,” I replied. “I set it 
when I saw that steamer coming. I am aground, 
and boarded by pirates.” 

“Pirates! you” — 

I don’t know what he would have said if the 
shrill scream of the steamer’s whistle had not 
interrupted the remark. The Canadian boat had 
just come into view from behind an island; and 
she was not more than two miles from the Sylva- 
nia. Captain Braceback knew that he was in 
British waters, and that the English people have 
a habit of making a tremendous disturbance over 



The Search for the Treasure. Page 303. 





THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


305 


any such little irregularities as that of which he 
had just been guilty. He hurried his men into 
the boat, and went on board of the Islander, 
though not till he had hauled down the signal at 
the peak. The anchor was weighed as expedi- 
tiously as possible, and in a few minutes the 
steamer was going towards the canal. 

As soon as it was prudent to do so, I set the 
signal of distress again. The steamer had gone 
into the harbor ; but she would soon appear. 
In half an hour she stopped her wheels within 
hailing distance of the Sylvania. Her commander 
could see what the matter was, and presently he 
backed his craft up to the position lately occupied 
by the Islander. Without asking any questions, 
he sent a hawser to our boat, with directions 
how and where to make it fast. Without much 
difficulty the Sylvania was hauled off the shoals. 
I paid the little bill of fifty dollars without 
grumbling, and the Canadian captain could not 
wait to hear my story. We went into Quebec 
harbor. 

We had nothing more to fear from the Islander ; 
and I was glad to escape with no worse conse- 
quences than the general derangement of every 


306 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


thing on board of our boat. When we had 
anchored, everybody was employed in setting 
things to rights. The next day we went a-fishing. 
The reign of hilarity began. Professor Buck- 
minster, who had not stepped on the land for 
three months before, joined us in our excursions 
on shore. We caught trout enough, as well as 
plenty of whitefish and siskowit. 

From Michipicoten, we went to Nepigon Bay ; 
and for two weeks we explored one of the wild- 
est and most beautiful regions in America, catch- 
ing the largest and gamiest trout I had ever 
seen. We were very far from any traces of 
civilization; and we camped in the woods, by 
broad lakes and wide streams. From this region 
we proceeded to Thunder Bay, and spent a day 
at Prince Arthur’s Landing, then but a small 
village. Then we landed at Isle Royal, and 
steamed to Duluth. Following the south shore, 
we reached the canal, having visited all the 
places of interest on the lake. We made our 
contemplated trip around Lake Michigan; and 
by the middle of August we ran up Glinten 
River, and moored the Sylvania at the wharf in 
Montomercy. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


307 


CHAPTER XXX. 

THE BAD NEWS FROM DETROIT. 

T WAS rather surprised to see that no one 
came from the house to welcome us after our 
return from the long cruise. We had been absent 
nearly seven weeks. As soon as the steamer was 
secured I walked up to the house. The servant- 
girl was at home, but none of the family. Mrs. 
Brickland had gone to Chicago three days before, 
to see her brother, who was dangerously sick, and 
her daughter had gone with her. Mr. Brickland 
had been called to Detroit the day before, by bad 
news ; though she did not know what it was, and 
had no idea when he would return. 

“ How did the bad news come from Detroit ? ” 
I asked. 

“I don’t know, Captain Alick: I did not see 
any person, or any letters, come to the house,” 
replied the girl. “ But that reminds me that 
there are two letters for you in the hall.” 


308 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


“ When did you first hear of any bad news ? ” 

“Yesterday morning. Mr. Brickland had fin- 
ished his breakfast, and was reading the newspa- 
pers while I cleared up the table. All of a sudden 
he jumped up, and said something was bad news, 
and he must go to Detroit right off. He went as 
soon as he had dressed ; and that’s all I know 
about it.” 

I went to the hall for the two letters. I saw 
they were from England. As I returned, the girl 
handed me a newspaper, saying it was the one my 
guardian was reading when he got the bad news. 
I took it, and walked down to the wharf. On the 
way I looked it over; but I could see nothing 
that I thought could be bad news to Mr. Brick- 
land, unless it were a large fire which had de- 
stroyed several buildings. I looked over the three 
columns the account occupied ; and I saw that the 
firm of Brooks and Keeper was mentioned. The 
senior partner was an old friend of Mr. Brickland ; 
but I was not aware that my guardian had any 
particular interest in his business affairs. I no- 
ticed that the safe containing the books and pa- 
pers of the firm had been destroyed by the falling 
of a wall upon it. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYL VANIA. 


309 


I decided at once to run down to Detroit, and 
ascertain what the bad news was. Moses was as 
much interested as I was, and Eilie and Bob were 
not yet tired of life on board of the Sylvania. 
After the Sylvania passed out of the river into the 
lake, I gave the helm to Ellie, and retired to my 
state-room with the two letters I had received at 
the house. The first was from my father, inform- 
ing me that the suit had gone against him. 
Though my grandfather had recognized me as the 
son of his son, the evidence in relation to the 
marriage of my father to Olive Somerset was not 
considered sufficient in the courts. 

But my father had appealed from the decision; 
and he confidently assured me that he should 
prevail in the end. For a new trial he could 
secure all the evidence needed; and he should 
leave for America in the course of the summer. 
I was not much interested in the question which 
called forth all the energies of my father. I 
opened the other letter, though not till a glance 
at the direction assured me that it was not from 
my father. It was from his business man, inform- 
ing me that Sir Bent Garningham had been taken 
very ill immediately after the close of the trial, 


310 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


the excitement of which had produced a complete 
nervous prostration. 

I was alarmed at this intelligence ; for my father 
was very dear to me for himself alone, and not at 
all for the wealth that might come through him to 
me. The business man thought he would be 
better as soon as he could obtain a little rest. 
Then he went on to give me the details of the 
suit. It appeared that a certain property was 
entailed upon the next of kin to the incumbent of 
the baronetcy, which a son of my father’s younger 
brother claimed. The case had been tried in one 
of the lower courts on an action to recover a small 
portion of the rents of the estate. 

I was more concerned about the result of the 
suit. When I was in England I learned that my 
father had been suspected of a tendency to in- 
sanity; and I dreaded any thing like a nervous 
disease. I was very anxious to receive another 
letter, which the business man had promised to 
write in a few days. I was very anxious, and I 
even thought of sailing for England in the next 
steamer. I forgot all about the bad news from 
Detroit until Moses came into my room, and asked 
'f I were going up town to find his father. He 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLYAHIA. 311 


could not help seeing that I was very much dis- 
turbed, and I gave him the substance of the two 
letters before we went on shore. He was full of 
sympathy, and his kind words did me much good. 
I felt that I was giving way to my feelings ; and I 
tried to brace up my nerves to meet whatever of 
trial and misfortune might be in store for me. 

When we came out of the room we saw two 
gentlemen on the wharf, who seemed to be regard- 
ing the Sylvania with a great deal of interest. As 
we landed, they asked us a great many questions 
about her, which I answered as fully as the case 
required. I was glad to forget the sorrows of the 
moment ; and I showed the two strangers all over 
the vessel, and they examined every part of her 
with the minutest care. When I told them, at 
parting, that the Sylvania was a private yacht, and 
could neither be bought nor hired, they seemed to 
be greatly disappointed ; but they did not explain 
the reasop why they were so deeply interested in 
the steamer. 

We left them on the wharf still admiring the 
beautiful craft, and hastened to the scene of the 
late fire, hoping to ascertain where Mr. Brickland 
was to be found. Brooks and Keeper had taken 


312 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


an office in a neighboring street, and here we 
found my guardian. His welcome was cordial; 
but I saw at once that Mr. Brickland was very 
sad, and very much depressed. He did not mani- 
fest any interest in our long cruise on Lake Supe- 
rior. 

“ I never was sorry to see you before, Alick,” 
said he gloomily. “ I have done the best I could 
for you ; but I have ” — 

“What is the matter, Mr. Brickland?” I asked, 
interrupting him. “ Have you later news from my 
father?” 

“ I have no news from him ; and I shall not dare 
to look him in the face when he comes to Monto- 
mercy again,” replied my guardian bitterly. 

“ Why, what has happened ? It can’t be possi- 
ble that you have done any thing wrong,” I ex- 
claimed, fearing that the bad news from Detroit 
might be even worse than I had anticipated. 

“ I have done wrong, Alick. After this you will 
despise and hate me,” groaned my guardian ; and 
the tears began to flow down his cheeks. 

“ No, sir ! It is impossible for you to do any 
thing wrong; ” and I believed all I said. 

“You have saved your fortune only to lose it 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANTA. 


313 


again by my bad management. You knew that 
Captain Braceback and his son had been ar- 
rested?” 

He wiped away the tears as he spoke ; and for 
the moment his grief was moderated by the turn- 
ing of his attention in another direction. 

“ No, sir: I had not heard of it,” I replied. 

“ The Islander went up to Montomercy ; and, 
when the captain and his son came on shore, I 
caused them both to be arrested. They are now 
in jail. I have collected all the evidence I could, 
and the lawyers say there can be no doubt of their 
conviction.” 

“ Then they are likely to get what they deserve,” 
I replied, my thoughts coming back to the bad 
news from Detroit. 

“ I wish that was all the news I had to tell you, 
Alick,” groaned my guardian. 

“ I think you had better tell me what has hap- 
pened at once ; and, whatever it is, I am sure you 
are not to blame for any thing,” I added. 

“ I put the package of bonds and other securi- 
ties you brought down to me into the safe of my 
friend Brooks. I thought it would be all right 
there, for the safe was built into the wall.” 


814 


LAKE BREEZES , OR; 


“ I see ; but you are no more to blame for this 
than if the papers had been lost at sea in a hurri- 
cane,” I protested warmly. 

“Do you think I am not? I feel like a 
criminal.” 

“You need not feel so. You did the best you 
could for the safety of the package ; and it is no 
more your fault than it is mine. It was burned in 
this fire, was it ? ” 

“ Every thing in the safe was destroyed. The 
fall upon it of the heavy wall of the next building 
crushed the ironwork as though it had been a 
bandbox. Not a thing in it was saved,” replied 
Mr. Brickland, intensely agitated. 

If the thought of my father had not made me 
sad, I should have laughed in his face. As it was, 
I succeeded in comforting him after a while. We 
went to his hotel, and talked over the situation. 
It was a very sad interview, made so only by the 
illness of my father. The bonds were not regis- 
tered, and they were hopelessly lost. Captain 
Braceback knew the nature of the contents of the 
package, or he would not have taken the trouble 
to steal it. My guardian had made a careful in- 
ventory of the bonds and stocks belonging to me ; 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 315 

but it appeared that he had for several years kept 
his valuable papers in the safe of his friend in De- 
troit, and the list was in his little trunk burned 
with the rest of the contents of the safe. All I 
had in the world, except the Sylvania, was gone. 
I was now really “ a poor boy ” again. 

In the afternoon Mr. Brickland returned in the 
steamer with us to Montomercy. It seemed 
almost as if the world had come to an end with 
me. My guardian was in no happier frame of 
mind. I had fought the battle with Captain 
Braceback for my earthly possessions ; but the 
fire had robbed me of every thing. I had not 
thought to look at the dates of my letters from 
England; and when I looked at them again I 
found they had been written five and four weeks 
before. It was time for me to have another ; and, 
for aught I knew, my father might already be in 
his grave. 

But no letters came for several days. The 
cruise of the Sylvania was finished, and Ellie and 
Bob started for their homes. I had no more use 
for Professor Buckminster, who had been a sober 
man now for four months. I was afraid, if he 
went on shore again, that he would fall into his 


316 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


old habit ; and I had a long talk with him in the 
pilot-house of the steamer, where he chose to spend 
his time. 

He produced a letter which he had obtained 
at the office, and showed it to me. It was from 
Mr. Buckminster, whose acquaintance I had made 
on the Hudson, and from whom I had fled at 
Albany. I learned for the first time that the old 
gentleman was his uncle. When I asked the 
professor if he had ever signed a pledge, he in- 
formed me that he had not, and then asked me 
to read this letter. It contained a draft for a 
hundred dollars, and invited his nephew to visit 
him at Newburgh. It appeared that the professor 
had promised his uncle never to drink another 
drop. 

“ That is the first pledge I ever took/’ said Mr. 
Buckminster ; “ and with God’s help, I intend to 
keep it as long as I live.” 

As I read the rest of the letter, I found that 
the professor had told his uncle all about me ; 
and the latter expressed in no stinted terms his 
obligations to me for the service I had rendered 
in saving the life of his daughter. He wished 
very much to see me again, and to do something 
to discharge his obligations. 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLYANIA. 317 

“ You say you are a poor boy again, Alick,” 
said the professor. “ My uncle is a very wealthy 
man ; and you have only to let him know that 
you need assistance, and he will be too glad to 
help you with all you can need in this world.” 

“ But I don’t need any assistance. I am not a 
beggar, if I am a poor boy,” I replied with energy. 
“ I should as soon think of begging through the 
streets of Detroit as of asking your uncle for any 
help when I don’t need it. I have the Sylvania 
yet ; and I can make a living out of her. What 
would my father, Sir Bent Garningham, say if I 
should ask or accept money from any friends ? ” 

“ But the suits have gone against your father.” 

“ Against me, but not against him, though he 
seems to think he shall be able to establish my 
claims. Whether he does or not, I can take care 
of myself.” 

“ I am going to see my uncle, Alick. I feel 
that I owe more to you than to any other person 
living. I am sorry to leave you, and I would 
not do so if you were to continue your studies as 
before.” 

“Each of us had a use for the other. You 
have worked well for me; and though I can’t 


318 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


afford to pay you as much as you have been worth 
to me, I shall do all I can as we part.” 

“ Come, come, Alick ! that is a little too bad ! I 
would no more take a cent from you for any thing 
I have done than I would from my own mother if 
I had one,” added the professor reproachfully. 

We discussed the matter a little. I had in- 
tended to pay him a hundred dollars out of the 
two hundred and fifty I had left after the cruise 
to Lake Superior. He was as resolute as I was ; 
and in the end we had to call it square. The 
next day he departed fo^the East. He spent a 
year with his uncle, until his habit of abstinence 
was confirmed, and then he was restored to his 
position in the university. He was saved by the 
grace of God and his voluntary confinement on 
board of the Sylvania. 

While we were talking about the past, Moses 
came on board to bring me a letter he had just 
obtained from the post-office. The heavy black 
seal upon it caused me to stagger to a stool for 
support. I need not say what I found in that 
letter when I had the strength and courage to 
open it. My poor father was no more. 

For more than a week I was not myself. Mrs. 


THE CRUISE OP THE SYL VANIA. 


319 


Briekland and Eva had returned from Chicago ; 
and the whole family did all they could for me. 
I pass over that week ; and it seems like a blank 
to me. Then came another letter from the busi- 
ness man of my father, informing me that my 
father left no will, and that I was wholly ignored 
by the family. He was ready to proceed in the 
courts to establish my rights if I instructed him 
to do so ; but funds were necessary, even to make 
a beginning. The son of my father’s younger 
brother had already assumed the title, and taken 
possession of the estates. 

I had no funds except the two hundred and 
fifty dollars, the remainder of the sum I had saved 
for the summer trip. Mr. Briekland offered all 
he had ; but I declined to have him risk a dollar 
of his property in any thing so uncertain as a law- 
suit. I accepted the situation, and was ready to 
go to work and earn my own living, as I had been 
obliged to do in former years. 

The next event of interest was the trial of 
Captain Braceback and his son for the stealing ol 
the package. I was the principal witness. Before 
the time came, Lynch Braceback desired to see me , 
and I visited him at the jail, for the prisoners had 
not been able to obtain bail. 


320 LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 

“Alick, my father has been the ruin of me,” 
said Lynch bitterly. “ You caused him to lose 
his situation as sailing-master of the Sylvania.” 

“ I don’t think so,” I replied. “ He lost his 
place by his want of care or skill in the manage- 
ment of the vessel.” 

“ He insists that you were the cause of all his 
misfortunes ; and when he moved to Montomercy 
he said he would ruin you in one way or another,” 
continued Lynch. “ He wanted to get you turned 
out of Somerset College first, and bring you into 
disgrace. He thought you would run away if 
they turned you out of the college.” 

“ What good would that have done him ? ” I 
asked. 

“ As soon as you ran away, he intended to get 
that package, and then make it appear that you 
had taken it yourself from the bank. It was I 
who froze up the bell that cold morning, and sent 
you the note about Mr. Brickland’s sickness. I 
set the sheds on fire, jumping out of the window 
into the lane after I had fixed the matches, the 
moment after you left the shed. I fixed the doc- 
tor’s dog, and made it look as though you had 
done it.” 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 321 


Lynch spoke very glibly about these things, 
and did not seem to be particularly penitent. I 
concluded that he had a purpose to accomplish. 
T let him tell his story without any reproaches ; 
for I knew he had injured himself more than he 
had me. 

“ I didn’t want to do these things, but my 
father made me. I couldn’t help myself,” pleaded 
he. 

“ It was a hard case for you, Lynch ; but I 
think I could have found a way to help myself.” 

“Perhaps you could, but I could not. My 
father always was a tyrant. You would not run 
away, as my father wanted you to do, even when 
you were turned out of the college. We knew 
when you took the package from the bank ; and 
my father made me keep watch of you till I found 
out what you did with it. I had an eye on you 
about all the time, from the moment you took it 
from the bank till you buried it in the cellar.” 

“And I saw you hanging about the house the 
night we put it in the cellar.” 

“ Yes ; and I thought you had found me out 
then. My father left soon after to take charge of 
the Islander ; and you know the rest of the story. 


322 


LAKE BREEZES; OR, 


Now, Alick, it was not my fault that I did all this. 
I always liked you first-rate.” 

“ I shall not find any fault with you now, 
Lynch.” 

“ But you can do something to get me out of 
the scrape,” said the culprit. 

What could I do ? He wished me to give my 
evidence so as not to prove any thing against him. 
But I could only tell the truth as it was. I would 
not have obeyed my father, or any other person 
who commanded me to commit a crime. The trial 
came on ; and I told my story as I have related it 
in these pages. It was amply confirmed by Mr. 
Brickland, Moses, and others. Captain Braceback 
was sentenced to the State Prison for three years, 
and Lynch for three months. They had the worst 
of it ; but I was sorry for Lynch. It was a terri- 
ble thi ^ to have a father who could lead him into 
crime. 

Only a few days after the trial I was not a 
little surprised to receive a visit from the two 
gentlemen who had so carefully looked over the 
Sylvania at Detroit on our return from Lake 
Superior. One of them was a young man, ap- 
parently not over twenty, while the other was 


THE CRTJISE OF THE SYLVAHTA. 


323 


forty. Both of them were elegantly dressed ; and 
they seemed to be cultivated people. 

“ I learned the other day that circumstances had 
changed somewhat with you, Captain Alick,” said 
the elder of the two, “and that possibly you 
might be inclined to sell or allow us to charter 
the fine steam-yacht we saw at Detroit.” 

“The circumstances have changed, though I 
don’t care to sell the Sylvania; for I expect to 
make a living out of her,” I replied. 

“ The truth of it is, Captain Alick, this young 
gentleman is my ward ; and he is possessed to 
take a cruise in a steam-yacht. As he has the 
means, I am not disposed to thwart him,” con- 
tinued the elder of the two. “ Is this a sea-going 
yacht ? ” 

“ If she can stand the gales of the great lakes, 
she is good for any thing on the ocean,” T replied. 

“ He has taken a fancy to the Sylvania ; and he 
insists upon going in her, or a vessel just like 
her.” 

“ Where does he wish to go ? ” I asked. 

“ He has been out of health, and has a vacation 
from college for a year. He must spend the next 
winter in the South.” 

“ In the South ! ” I exclaimed. 


324 


LAKE BREEZES ; OR, 


“So the physicians say. He wants the yacht 
for a year. He desires to cruise along the Atlantic 
shores for the next six months.” 

This was the plan ; and we made a bargain on 
the spot. We arranged the terms in detail af- 
terwards ; but in ten days from that time I was 
on the voyage to Florida by the way of Lake 
Erie, the Welland Canal, and the St. Lawrence 
River. In the excitement of preparing for the 
proposed long cruise, I almost forgot my sorrows 
and troubles. I asked no questions yet about my 
employer, though I found he had taken pains to 
ascertain all he could about me. But I am to tell 
the story of this long voyage in another volume. 

After the trial Lynch Braceback told Dr. Raw- 
ley the story he had related to me, 'and confessed 
his guilt in regard to the three scrapes which had 
caused my expulsion from Somerset College. The 
doctor called upon me at once, and was as peni- 
tent as though he had been guilty of all the 
offences himself. He reinstated me after vaca- 
tion ; and I induced Ellie and Bob to return, 
though I could not be with them. 

My story is finished ; and another great change 
has come over my fortunes. Though I am right- 


THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA. 


325 


fully Sir Alexander Garningham, I don’t say any 
thing about that. I don’t like the “ handle ” to 
my name, and prefer to be simply “ Captain 
Alick ” if I must have any title. I was not sorry 
to think of the prospect of sailing on the blue 
ocean again; though, in spite of the excitement 
and the anxiety of it, I had enjoyed the “ Lak» 
Breezes ; or, The Cruise of the Sylvania.” 









OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES 

Completed in Six Volumes. Illustrated. 

Per Vol., $1.25. 


1. ALL ADRIFT; 

Or, The Goldwing Club. 

2. SNUG HARBOR; 

Or, The Champlain Mechanics. 


3. SQUARE AND COMPASS; 

Or, Building the House. 

4. STEM TO STERN; 

Or, Building the Boat. 

6. ALL TAUT; 

Or, Rigging the Boat. 

«. READY ABOUT; 

Or, Sailing the Boat. 


The series includes in six successive volumes the whole art 
of boat-building, boat-rigging, boat^managing, and practical 
hints to make the ownership of a boat pay. A great deal of 
useful information will be given in this Boat-Building series, 
and in each book a very interesting story is sure to be inter- 
woven with the information. Every reader will be interested 
at once in “ Dory,” the hero ot “All Adrift,” and one of th# 
characters to be retained in the future volumes of the series, 
at least there are already several of his recently made friends 
who do not want to lose sight of him, and this will be the 
cage of pretty much every boy who makes his acquaintance 
in “All Adrift.” 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD. 

FIRST SERIES. 

A Iiibrary of Travel ami Adventure in Foreign Lands. 16m*. 
Illustrated by JVast, Stevens, Perkins, and others. 

Per volume, $1.50. 


1. OUTWARD BOUND; 

Or, Young America Afloat. 

2. SHAMROCK AND THISTLE; 

Or, Young America in Ireland and Scotland. 

3 . RED CROSS; 

Or. Young America in England and Wales. 

4 . DIKES AND DITCHES; 

Or, Young America in Holland and Belgium. 

5. PALACE AND COTTAGE; 

Or, Young America in France and Switzerland. 

DOWN THE RHINE; 

Or, Young America in Germany. 

The story from its inception and through the twelve vol 
umes ^ee Second Series) , is a bewitching one, while the in- 
formation imparted, concerning the countries of Europe and 
the isles of the sea, is not only correct in every particular, but 
is told in a captivating style. “ Oliver Optic ” will continue 
to be the boy’s friend, and his pleasant books will continue to 
he read by thousands of American boys. What a fine holiday 
present either or both series of “ Young America Abroad” 
would be for a young friend ! It would make a little library 
highly prized by the recipient, and would not be an expensive 
one. — Providence Press. 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD. 

SECOND SERIES. 

A. Library of Travel and Adventure in Foreign Lands. 16m«. 
Illustrated by JVast, Stevens, Perkins, and others. 

Per volume, $1.50. 


1. UP THE BALTIC; 

Or, Young America in Norway, Sweden, and 
Denmark. 

2 . NORTHERN LANDS; 

Or, Young America in Russia and Prussia. 

3 . CROSS AND CRESCENT; 

Or, Young America in Turkey and Greeoc. 

4. SUNNY SHORES; 

Or, Young America in Italy and Austria. 

5. VINE AND OLIVE; 

Or, Young America in Spain and Portugal. 

6 . ISLES OF THE SEA; 

Or, Young America Homeward Bound. 

u Oliver Optic” is a nom de plume that is known and loved 
by almost every bo} r of intelligence in the land. We have 
seen a highly intellectual and world-weary man, a cynic whose 
heart was somewhat imbittered by its large experience of 
human nature, take up one of Oliver Optic’s books and read 
it at a sitting, neglecting his work in yielding to the fascina- 
tion of the pages. When a mature and exceedingly well- 
informed mind, long despoiled of all its freshness, can thus 
find pleasure in a book for boys, no additional words of rec* 
©mmendation are needed. — Sunday Times . 


OLIVER OPTIC’S BOOKS. 


ARMY AND NAYY STORIES 

Six Volumes. Illustrated. Per vol„ $1.50. 


1. THE SOLDIER BOY; 

Or, Tom Somers in the Army. 

2. THE SAILOR BOY; 

Or, Jack Somers in the Navy. 

3 . THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT; 

Or, Adventures of an Army Officer. 

4 . THE YANKEE MIDDY; 

Or, Adventures of a Nary Officer. 

5 . FIGHTING JOE; 

Or, The Fortunes of a Staff Offio«r. 

6 . BRAVE OLD SALT; 

Or, Life on the Quarter-Deck. 


This series of six volumes recounts the adventures of two 
brothers, Tom and Jack Somers, one in the arm} 7 , the other in 
the navy, in the great civil war. The romantic narratives of 
the fortunes and exploits of the brothers are thrilling in th 
extreme. Historical accuracy in the recital of the grea. 
events of that period is strictly followed, and the result is 
not only a librar}' of entertaining volumes, but also the bes' 
history of the civil war for young people ever written. 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


WOODYILLE STORIES. 

Uniform with Library for Young People. Six vols. 16mo. Illn» 
trated. Per vol,, $1,585. 


1. RICH AND HUMBLE; 

Oi, The Mission of Bertha Grant. 

2. IN SCHOOL AND OUT; 

Or, The Conquest of Richard Grant. 

3. WATCH AND WAIT; 

Or, The Young Fugitives. 

4. WORK AND WIN ; 

Or, Noddy Newman on a Cruise. 

5. HOPE AND HAVE; 

Or, Fanny Grant among the Indians. 

6 HASTE AND WASTE; 

Or, The Young Pilot of Lake Champlain. 


Though we are not so young as we once were, we relished 
these stories almost as much as the bo3'S and girls for whom 
they were written. They were really refreshing even to us, 
Tlier* is much in them which is calculated to inspire a gener- 
ous, healthy ambition, and to make distasteful all reading 
tending to stimulate base desires . — Fitchburg BeveiUe, 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


THE LAKE SHORE SERIES. 

Six volumes. Illustrated. In neat box Per vol., $1.39. 


1. THROUGH BY DAYLIGHT ; 

Or, The Young Engineer of the Lake Shore 
Railroad. 

2. LIGHTNING EXPRESS; 

Or, The Rival Academies. 

3. ON TIME; 

Or, The Young Captain of the Ucafga Steanac 

4. SWITCH OFF; 

Or, The War of the Students. 

5. BRAKE-UP; 

Or, The Young Peacemakers. 

6. BEAR AND FORBEAR; 

Or, The Young Skipper of Lake Ucayga. 


4 ‘Oliver Optic” is one of the most fascinating writers foi 
youth, and withal one of the best to be found in this or any 
past age. Troops of young people hang over his vivid pages, 
and not one of them ever learned to be mean, ignoble, cow* 
ardly, selfish, or to yield to any vice from anything they «ve* 
read from his pen. — Providence Press . 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


THE STARRY FLAG SERIES. 

Six volumes. Illustrated. Per vol. $1.35. 


1. THE STARRY FLAG; 

Or, The Young Fisherman of Cape Ann. 

2. BREAKING AWAY; 

Or, The Fortunes of a Student. 

8. SEEK AND FIND; 

Or, The Adventures of a Smart Boy. 

4. FREAKS OF FORTUNE; 

Or, Half Rouud the World. 

5. MAKE OR BREAK; 

Or, The Rich Man’s Daughter. 

6. DOWN THE RIVER; 

Or, Buck Bradford and the Tyrants 


Mr. Adams, the celebrated and popular writer, familiarly 
^nown as “ Oliver Optic,” seems to have inexhaustible funds 
for weaving together the virtues of life ; and notwithstanding 
he has written scores of books, the same freshness and nov- 
elty runs through them all. Some people think the sensa- 
tional element predominates. Perhaps it does. But a beok 
for young people needs this ; and so long as good sentiments 
are inculcated such books ought to be read. — Pittsburg Gar 
zcUe. 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


THE ONWARD AND UPWARD 

SERIES. 

Complete in six volumes. Illustrated. In neat box* 

Per volume, $1.35. 


1. FIELD AND FOREST; 

Or, The Fortunes of a Farmer. 

2. PLANE AND PLANK; 

Or, The Mishaps of a Mechanic. 

3. DESK AND DESIT ; 

Or, The Catastrophes of a Clerk. 

4. CRINGLE AND CROSS-TREE; 

Or, The Sea Swashes of a Sailor. 

5. BIVOUAC AND BATTLE; 

Or, The Struggles of a Soldier. 

6. SEA AND SHORE; 

Or, The Tramps of a Traveller. 


Paul Farringford, the hero of these tales, is, like most of 
this author’s heroes, a j T oung man of high spirit, and of high 
aims and correct principles, appearing in the different vol* 
umes as a farmer, a captain, a bookkeeper, a sudier, a sailor, 
and a traveller. In all of them the hero meets with very 
exciting adventures, told in the graphic style for which Um 
author is famous. — Native . 


OLIVER OPTIC’S BOOKS. 


YACHT CLUB SERIES. 

Cuilar** with the ever popular “ Boat Club,” Series, Complete* 
in six vols. 16mo. Illustrated. Per vol., $1.50. 


1. LITTLE BOBTAIL; 

Or, The Wreck of the Peaobacst 

2. THE YACHT CLUB; 

Or, The Young Boat-Builders. 

3. MONEY-MAKER; 

Or, The Victory of the Basilisk. 

4. THE COMING WAVE; 

Or, The Treasure of High Rock. 

6. THE DORCAS CLUB; 

Or, Our Girls Afloat. 

6. OCEAN BORN; 

Or, The Cruise of the Clubs. 


The series has this peculiarity, that all of its constituent 
volumes are independent of one another, and therefore each 
story is complete in itself. “Oliver Optic” is perhaps the 
favorite author of the boys and girls of this country, and he 
seems destined to enjoy an endless popularit} T . He deserves 
his success, for he makes very interesting stories, and incul- 
cates none but the best sentiments; and the “ Yacht Club" 
is no exception to this rule. — New Haven Jour, and Courier. 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


RIVERDALE STORY-BOOKS. 

Twelve volumes, profusely illustrated. A new edition. Illuminated Paper 
Covers, per set, $2 00; Cloth, in neat box, per set, $3.60. 


1. LITTLE MERCHANT. 

2. YOUNG VOYAGERS. 

3. CHRISTMAS GIFT. 

4. DOLLY AND I. 

5. UNCLE BEN. 

6. BIRTHDAY PARTY. 

7. PROUD AND LAZY. 

8. CARELESS KATE. 

9. ROBINSOE CRUSOE, JR. 

10. THE PICNIC PARTY. 

11. THE GOLD THIMBLE. 

12. THE DO-SOMETHINGS. 


The “ Riverdale Stories” are a series of short bright stCK 
ries for 3 r ounger children than those who are able to compre- 
hend “ The Starry Flag Series,” “The Woodville Stories,” 
“ Army and Navy Stories,” &c. But they all display the 
author’s talent for pleasing “Little Folks” as well as the 
older children. They are all fresh, taking stories, preaching 
no sermons but inculcating good lessons. 





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